Approaching Darkness
by Niori
Summary: After a brutal ghost attack,the ghost zone and human world are on the brink of an all out war. Now it's up to Danny to keep some sort of peace, and it's not going to be easy when everything else in his life is seeming to spiral out of control.Chap13!
1. Chapter 1

An- So hey everyone! First off, I'm going to thank you for hitting the link to open this story! So this is my first non Lord of The Rings story that I have written in over four years, so I'm a bit nervous about this. Also, I've never done a Danny Phantom story either, so that just builds on my nervousness. Anyway, here's some things that I should point out; Danny and Co are seniors, thus seventeen years old, 'Phantom Planet' (which I really didn't like) never happened thus the only people who know about Danny's secret are Team Phantom plus the bad guys. A few other differences might appear as the story progresses, so I'll point them out as we go. So I hope you enjoy!

Summary- Danny's life just got much worse; after a brutal ghost attack he's blamed, thus back to public enemy number one. Because of that, the ghost problem has been labelled a threat to national security. Not to mention keeping his secret is getting harder has his powers are growing once again, and with the GWI poking around it's only getting worse. Now it's up to Danny to try and make some sort of peace between the ghost zone and the humans before there's all out war and keep his secret while doing it.

Disclaimer- God these things are freaking stupid. Obviously, since I'm writing on a site called FANfiction, I clearly do not own.

Chapter One

Being slammed into a brick wall hurt, especially when it was brought on by an ecto-blast to the chest. It smarted even more when that ecto-blast was fired by your sort of ex-girlfriend who you hung out with not even three hours before.

"Got you now Ghost Boy!"

"Damnit Val," said the ghost boy, also known as Danny Phantom, "Why won't you ever believe me when I say that it's not my dog! I'm so not in the mood for this!"

And he wasn't; he had failed another of Lancer's tests, got into a stupid fight with Sam, been attacked by Skulker (three times in one day) and was yet again going to break his curfew. All he wanted to do was go home, take a nice hot shower and collapse into bed.

But of course Valarie, AKA the Red Huntress, had to go and choose this night to patrol the night skies over Amity Park. And since the newest incident involving the ghost dog Cujo, any particular truce they may have had going on had gone up in smoke.

He understood why she was pissed. This time Cujo had gone and trashed the Nasty Burger which cost Valerie her job, but he had only shown up afterwards to catch Cujo. He had been nowhere in the vicinity when the damage was done, but still Valarie thought Phantom had been behind it all in some attempt to get some sort of perverse pleasure in torturing her.

No amount of arguing to the contrary was helping Danny make his case.

Danny got to his feet, wincing at throbbing coming from his chest and looking up at the girl hovering on her jet sled a few feet above him.

"Can we please not do this?" Danny almost felt like begging, "Or at least take a rain check for another day?"

"Ha!" Val's voice laughed out sarcastically from behind her suit, "Now why would I do that when I have you cornered!"

Danny glanced around him and noticed that Valerie did indeed have him trapped in an alleyway. Or at least would have had him trapped had he not had the ghost power to phase through solid objects, including brick walls.

He wasn't going to remind her of that though; God knows she would whip out some new weapon that would block his intangibility. Danny could have sworn that Technus had somehow rigged Val's suit to give her new upgrades systematically, just to make him as miserable as possible.

Valerie aimed her gun at him again, and Danny barely held back a curse. Why could the woman not be reasonable for once? Just once.

When the shot came at him he easily dodged it, and for a fleeting moment Danny wondered if Valerie was losing her touch; that was too easy to get away from. Or so he thought, because not even five seconds later the blast circled back towards him without him realizing it, and this time he didn't dodge it.

The blast caught him in the lower back, pitching him forward with a semi-surprised cry. Danny flew forward, hissing in pain at the burning sensation that engulfed his back.

That one was new.

"Like it?" the Red Huntress mocked, "It locks onto a ghost's ecto-signature and zeroes in on it like a homing missile."

With that Valerie leveled her weapon again and fired, this time continuously. Danny jumped back to his feet and took off into the air; he had a better chance of avoiding them there than on the ground. Even when they missed him the first time, they came right back at him. He managed to dodge one a second time while another crashed into his arm the second time around.

_Damn_! Danny cursed and grit his teeth.

That was it! Danny wasn't really in the mood to fight her, but now it seemed like he had no choice. As much as he'd rather get out of there, there was no way he was going to let her keep that gun. A gun that would hit him no matter what was bad news, and if he didn't get it away from her now it would come back to bite him in the ass next time Phantom and Red Huntress met.

Two more shots were flying towards him and he went intangible. Instead of hitting him, they passed right through and splattered on the wall behind him. He had to stop her before she shot again.

"Sorry Val," Danny muttered under his breath.

The green ecto-blast formed around his hand and with a jerk of his arm he sent it hurtling towards the gun Valerie held tightly in her hands. She didn't get out of the way fast enough, and the blast did catch the gun…and it exploded. Valerie's sled spun out of control and hurtled backwards. She crashed into the same wall that he had crashed into earlier, and went down.

"Crap!" Danny yelled out and flew down towards her.

Before she could hit the ground, Val's pulled her sled back in and landed on her feet. She gasped out in pain when she landed, but despite a few scorch marks on her suit, the explosion hadn't seemed to hurt her.

But of course, she took Danny flying down to help her as a sign of attack and raised her wrist towards him, the gun attached there already charging. He jerked to stop himself, knowing it was time that he got out of there. This was the perfect opportunity to make his exit.

His first move was to turn invisible and then take off once again. He moved in the direction of his house at top speed to put some distance between him and his opponent. He could here Val shouting out curses and threats at him as he escaped. Danny couldn't help but grimace.

When had Val gotten that creative?

"Good job Fenton," he groaned out loud as Fenton Works came into view, "way to go and give her another reason to hate you."

The only issue there was that blast he hit her with hadn't been _that_ strong…had it? He hadn't meant it to be, but the gun had exploded. And since Valerie didn't use any cheap, easily breakable weapons, it meant that it had been him.

He sighed as he landed and transformed back into Danny Fenton.

He'd worry about that little mystery later because right now he was worrying about what punishment his parents were going to bestow on him for being late. Yet again.

l.l.l.l.l

"Mr. Fenton, I would appreciate it if you were to stay awake in my class for once."

Danny jerked awake at the sound of the voice. He looked up, blinking until his teacher came into clear focus. Mr. Lancer looked down at him in the usual annoyance and Danny did feel a little guilty.

As boring as Mr. Lancer's English class was, Danny figured it had to be a huge blow to the teacher's ego that he had been falling asleep in his class since freshmen year.

"Sorry Mr. Lancer," Danny apologized and waited for the order of detention.

Though it never came; instead the teacher made his way back to the front of the classroom. Maybe after three years of detention and no change in attitude or behaviour made him give up.

"Now class," Lancer began again, "as I was saying, the symbolism present in 'Old Man and the Sea'…"

A scrap of paper landed on his desk. Danny glanced over to see who had thrown it. One of his best friends, the techno geek Tucker, was looking at him with raised eyebrows. Danny and sighed and opened the note.

_Dude, you look like crap. Where's Sam?_

Danny winced as he glanced at the empty seat to the left of him, where his other best friend Sam should have been sitting.

He had run in ten minutes late (The Box Ghost had decided to be a nuisance on his way to school) and thus hadn't had a chance to talk to Tucker before class about the fight he and Sam had the night before. Or to ask advice on what he did wrong and how he could make her happy again.

He and Sam had been hanging out at her house with Danny trying to catch up on homework while Sam prepared for her newest protest, something about animal cruelty in the fast food industry. Danny made one _small_ joke about how it was going to end up like the whole changing the menu incident from ninth grade and Sam _freaked._ she had screamed something about not taking her seriously and always trivializing everything that was important to her. In order to make sure he continued to be only half dead Danny had gotten out of there as soon as she started yelling.

Danny had faced down some of the most terrifying and strongest ghosts in existence, but he could honestly say he was much more scared of a furious Sam.

And since she wasn't here, Danny was assuming that she was still really, _really_ pissed.

_Skulker and Valerie all in a half an hour span. Sam and I had a fight. Tell you about it later_.

Danny tossed the note back to his friend the moment Lancer's back was turned. Then he turned his attention to copying the notes being written on the board.

He hadn't even gotten the first word down when a shiver passed through his body. A moment later blue mist passed from his lips.

_Fuck_! Danny cursed angrily in his mind, _I still haven't recovered from last night! I still have freaking second degree burns thanks to Val._

"Umm, Mr. Lancer," Danny spoke up suddenly, eyes darting around to see if the ghost was going to materialize in the classroom, "can I…"

"Use the washroom?" Lancer's voice was dry, "Of course Mr. Fenton. Why mess with tradition?"

There were snickers from his fellow students Danny had already leapt up and was dashing out of the room. The hallway he rushed out into was deserted by both humans and ghosts. He turned a corner, gave one last look around to see if anyone was there and then called out 'I'm goin' ghost!"

The white light gathered around his midsection and then traveled up and down his body. Once it was gone, so were the baggy blue jeans and blue t shirt above a long sleeved black shirt and was replaced by a black and white jumpsuit. Gone was Danny Fenton and left standing there was Phantom.

His ghost sense went off again and Danny heard a noise behind him. He whirled around, automatically falling into a fighting stance and gathering an ecto-blast in his hands. He was tense and ready for an attack, but all he got instead was a sarcastic, exasperated voice.

"Relax dipstick. I'm here to talk."

l.l.l.l

An- So there is my first chapter. I'm not totally a hundred percent sure of it. I think it's kind of shaky, so that's why I'm asking you to tell me what you think. Though please, if you won't be nice at least be polite. Give me praise or some constructive criticism, but please no flames. So that's all for now, and hopefully I'll see you next chapter! Peace, Love & Rainbows!


	2. Chapter 2

An- Welcome to chapter two! Thanks everyone for their reviews from last chapter. I totally appreciated them! So I'm just going to let you all know that yes, this chapter came out fairly quick, but don't expect it all the time; chances are there will be large gaps between updates as time goes on. Right now I've been on a writing spurt for this, but my life is going to start to get busy soon. Oh, and I forgot to mention that this story contains a whole bunch of DxS and some TxV (though not sure how much). Do enjoy!

Chapter Two

Danny blinked in confusion, wondering if he had heard the ghost right. Ember was in fact standing there in front of him, looking annoyed as usual. She was leaning against the lockers, arms crossed over her chest and making no move to attack him.

Which did shock him into pausing. While Ember wasn't one of the ghosts who tried to kill him frequently, she always did enjoying kicking the crap out of him whenever she got the chance.

"Excuse me if I don't believe you," his voice was sarcastic and he was still prepared for battle, assuming that the minute he relaxed she'd be blasting him with a power chord from that damn guitar she always had with her.

"Argh, are all you humans this paranoid nowadays or is it just you?"

"Ember," Danny's voice was point blank and blunt, "in the past three years you've tried to take over the world with your music four times. Excuse me for not trusting you."

"Geez, a girl makes a few bad moves and you hold it against her. Besides, it was only three times; the whole thing with Kitty and Spectra was just a few girls blowing off some steam. No biggie."

"I'm sure all the guys in Amity Park would disagree," his voice was dry as he crossed his arms.

"Whatever dipstick," Ember's voice was flippant, "now, do you want to know why I'm here or not?"

Danny lost some hostility. She hadn't attacked yet, so he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt, for the moment anyway.

"I'm listening."

"Who knows I'm a ghost?" Ember's question threw him off guard.

"What?"

"Who knows I'm a ghost? It's not exactly common knowledge, unless you went and blabbed."

"Um, my friends and I know," Danny answered, thinking, "and so does my sister and mom after your whole 'girls' night out' incident. As far as I know, most people still think you're just a washed up pop star."

Danny couldn't help but throw in the jibe, and Ember's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Watch it kid, or I might change my mind about only being here to talk."

Danny knew the threat was a real one and that Ember could cause a lot of pain and damage if she really wanted to. So pissing her off wouldn't be one of his smarter ideas.

"Fine. Now why are you asking me these questions?"

"So I was talking to my agent yesterday," at Danny's surprised look, Ember rolled her eyes, "of course I have a human agent; the Ghost Zone isn't exactly full of recording companies. So I obviously need human contacts.

"Anyway, I decided that it was about time to consider a comeback tour- relax and don't give me that look; I don't want to take over the world. I just miss playing in front of a live audience. Literally. Then my agent tells me some guy had come around asking questions about me, saying that he was a reporter.

"That was no big deal because reporters come in all of the time, usually from all those 'where are they now' TV specials. She said he acted really weird for a reporter, but asked the standard questions; where am I now, what am I doing, any plans to start up again, all that jazz. Normally I wouldn't care, but he asked one question no one has ever asked before; he asked if I was related to an Amber Lynn Mclainen."

Danny was staring at the ghost in confusion. Why should Ember think this was important enough to seek him out? Or better yet, why would he care that some reporter was asking about her?

"This is important because…"

"Because that's my name moron," Ember now just sounded fed up with him, "or at least it was when I was alive. What? Did you think I was lucky enough to be named Ember by my mother? Please, I had to change my name to something cool when I began to make it big. Besides," an amused glint entered her eyes, "Ember's so much easier to remember than boring old Amber, and that it the whole point...remembering my name."

Okay, he could see why that particular question would cause her to be suspicious. By connecting Ember to a dead girl, to herself, would up the chances of her being exposed as a ghost.

"It could be a coincidence," Danny pointed out, even though he had given up believing in coincidences a long time ago, "I mean, maybe someone from your, err, family noticed a resemblance?"

"Amber Mclainen was an eighteen year old nobody from a backwater town," Ember snapped, her hair flaring up as her voice took on a hard edge and dangerous tone, "no one cared about, or remembered her when she was alive, let alone twenty years after she died."

Danny instinctively took a step backwards; he had never heard Ember this angry before, even when he was foiling her plans.

In the past he had briefly wondered about how the ghosts he fought had died, and what caused them to become ghosts in the first place. Yet he never gave it much thought because frankly, he was usually too busy fighting them. Danny knew Sam put quite a bit of thought into it, especially about why they had their particular obsessions. But as much as she would have liked, Danny would never ask for details. In the ghost world, that was just considered very bad manners.

But hearing the rage in Ember's voice as she spoke about her former self made him want to know. He suddenly did want to understand why Ember got power when someone said her name.

Though Danny figured that if he asked her when she was this furious, Ember would probably kill him.

"Okay," Danny's voice was low in an attempt to diffuse her temper, "I get it. Someone connecting you to yourself is a big thing, and it probably shouldn't have been an easy thing. Especially when, according to most of the world, you're still alive."

"So that's why," both Ember's hair and voice were back to normal, "I need to know if you or any of your little sidekicks have told anyone I'm dead."

"I haven't told anyone," Danny replied, "and I don't think any of the others have, not even my mom. None of us have had reason to."

Ember didn't look like she exactly liked that answer, because then the question was up in the air over how this person was getting their information. I mean, who leapt to the conclusion that someone was a ghost?

Well, besides his parents.

"Well if someone went and figured all that out on their own you might want to be a bit more careful than usual dipstick."

"Is that a threat Ember?" Danny asked with raised eyebrows.

"Nope, just a warning. If someone can figure out I'm the ghost of a girl who died twenty years ago, do you think it'll be so hard to find out your secret? As loathe as I am to say it, you're probably more popular than I am, and unmasking you would make an even better story I mean, Danny Fenton to Danny Phantom? Not a huge jump, and certainly not your most creative moment."

Danny scowled at her, but understood the potential gravity of the situation. It was true, what she was saying; it was much easier to connect the dots between Fenton and Phantom opposed to digging up Ember's past.

"Thanks," Danny was honestly grateful she had let him know what was going on, "I'll look into it, but maybe you should reschedule that non-taking over the world comeback tour for a little longer."

Ember didn't look thrilled at the prospect, but nodded grudgingly.

"Fine. Oh hey, I wanted to ask you. Like my new look? Your bride of Dracula gave me a few ideas for my new attire. Tell her I said thanks."

For the first time since this encounter began, Danny noticed what Ember was wearing. She had on an outfit that looked almost exactly like what Sam had worn in freshman year; the same style skirt only it lacked the green stripes and instead had blue. There were no stockings but there were combat boots, and her shirt was black but instead of a purple dot there was a blue skull and cross bones. Ember had gone Sam-esque Goth.

"Yeah…she'll probably want to kill you all over again if you get her look to go all mainstream."

"Well you sure know how to pick your girlfriends Halfa. Most girls would die for me to rip off their look and make them fashion idols."

"Yeah, Sam's not like other girls," Danny smiled affectionately, but remembered to add, "and she's not my girlfriend."

"Whatever you say dipstick, whatever you say."

Danny fidgeted under her knowing voice, but made no further move to argue against the point.

"Well see you around kid, I've got things to do," Ember spoke up, "I'll send you some tickets when I hit the road again. Just don't let that dorky friend of yours anywhere near a mike."

"Don't worry," Danny couldn't help but snicker at the memory of Tucker singing that God awful song up on stage, "if you're not taking over the world, Tuck won't get to sing."

"Whatever," Ember said before she phased through a wall.

Danny fell out of ghost mode and made his way back to English, thinking over what Ember had told him.

Who could be the one digging up the information on her? And better yet, why? Sure Ember was still pretty popular, but no one was asking these questions when she was on the cover of every magazine. Why would someone be asking these questions now? What had set them off and ultimately made them make the connection between Ember and Amber.

The only reason Danny could think of was that someone had found out Ember was a ghost, or at least suspected it, and went from there. Now where would they have gotten that information?

_Could they have gotten my ghost files_? Danny stopped suddenly when the idea came to him, _Because that's the only place I can think about that the information would be available. Unless someone else has files just like I do. I mean, I have a ton of information, and Ember is in there. Nothing about her life or death, but once you knew she was a ghost all it would take was some sound detective skills to find out the rest._

That raised another issue. If they were getting the information from him, it made two new problems; one, why were they looking into his files? Granted they could have just decided to check out the Fentons, knowing they'd have the information on ghosts in general and found the info on Ember. Two, there was quite a bit of information on _him_ in those files…information that could give him away in an instant.

Or was Danny just being completely paranoid, as usual?

He'd have to ask Tucker to his magic later and see if his computer had been hacked into just to make sure. In his life it was always better to be safe than sorry.

Just as Danny reached the classroom door, the shrill sound of the bell cut through the silent halls. A moment after that Danny had to jump aside to avoid the students that came stampeding out of the classroom.

He groaned; between sleeping and talking to Ember, he missed the entire class.

Damn.

"Hey man," Tucker spoke as he came out of the room, handing Danny his stuff, "what took so long?"

"Ember showed up," Danny said and then proceeded to tell his friend the whole story.

"Dude that's nuts," Tucker exclaimed as Danny finished.

"Tell me about it," Danny replied dryly, "so can you come over after school to check out my computer or not?"

"Can't," Tucker replied, "at least not until later. I work until eight."

For the past year Tucker had been working at the electronics store in the mall as the guy you went to when you had technology questions. Despite the fact he actually had to work and couldn't wear that ugly beret (which, even after his style had changed over the years, was still almost always on his head), Tucker loved showing off his techno geek knowledge…and all the discounts on PDAs.

Tucker wasn't the only one who had gotten a part time job; Sam had been working at the Skulk and Lurk (last year they let her back in) for a few months. When Tucker had asked why the hell she wanted a minimum wage job when she didn't need the money, Sam had replied that she was sick and tired of spending money that she hadn't earned. Tucker called her insane, but Danny was proud of her resolve to earn things herself. He wasn't surprised in the least, but was still proud of her.

He on the other hand, was still unemployed. After much consideration, Danny decided that he'd end up getting fired for skipping out all the time, just like he had to do at school. It's not like he could just ignore a ghost attack and keep working. So he helped his parents out in the lap, despite the obvious danger, and they paid him on commission. He needed to get money somehow.

"Fine," Danny replied, "Tomorrow then? This is probably something we shouldn't take lightly. It could turn out bad."

"For sure," Tucker agreed, and then changed the subject, "so you had a fight with Sam?"

Danny rolled his eyes. Leave it to Tucker to be more concerned with his fight with Sam than the possibility of his secret getting out.

"Yeah," he sighed at the memory, "I made a joke about her newest protest."

Tucker visibly winced "Smooth. Real smooth. You know she's touchy about all that stuff."

"It was a joke!" Danny replied indigently, "I didn't mean it. Hell, if she were to ask me to go with her and hold a stupid sign, I would! If it's important to her, than it matters to me. And you make fun of her protests all the time, and even if she gets mad she never freaks out at you like she did me!"

"You're different man," Tucker informed him, "Sure I'm her best friend, but you're her best friend plus. Sam and I disagreeing is inevitable, but you two don't fight very much. Besides, she thinks not caring in what she believes in is a way of not caring about her."

"Of course I care about her!" Danny cried in surprise, causing some of the students walking the halls around them to stare, "…I mean, she's my best friend after all…"

The cover up was lame, and he knew Tucker wouldn't believe him. Tucker never believed his objections anymore…not that Danny could even fool himself anymore.

He knew he was in love with Sam and he had admitted it to himself a while ago. He was pretty sure he had realized it when that idiot Elliot/Gregor had come along, but he knew he had had 'more than friends' feelings about her before that.

Danny had yet to admit this fact out loud though. Sure he had vague conversations with both Jazz and Tucker about his feelings, but he had never come out and said 'I'm in love with Sam'. Especially to her.

Danny was told time and time again that she liked him, and despite the title and popular belief, he wasn't as clueless as people thought. He knew Sam had feelings for him, but he couldn't believe they were nearly as strong as his were. Otherwise she would have done something; Sam wasn't the kind of girl who sat back and did nothing when she wanted something. So if she wasn't willing to take the chance than neither would he.

Besides, if Sam were ever to find out some of the things he ended up thinking about her, she'd kill him.

"Denial," Tucker sighed, "total denial."

Danny didn't exactly argue.

"I'll go over right after school and beg forgiveness. Besides, it's always good to have her perspective on any problems," Tucker looked offended, "not that I don't need your valuable insight."

Danny managed to say that with a straight face.

"That's the idea!" Tucker cried and slapped him on the back joyfully.

Danny yelped in pain, Tucker's hand hitting one of the burns from last night. They still hurt like a bitch.

"Sorry!" Tucker apologized in horror, "What did I hit?"

"Val's new gun left burn marks instead of bruises," Danny explained grimly.

"So I'm going to guess she's still pissed about her job."

"Yep," Danny sighed as the bell rang again and they entered their next class, "and I'm going to have to do something about that. I'll give you more details later."

l.l.l.l.l

The minute the final bell rang and Tucker left for the mall, Danny entered the boy's locker room and went ghost. He flew up and phased out of the school, staying invisible as he took off towards Sam's house.

He was nervous to see her, wondering how pissed she would be. Hopefully her day alone would give her enough time to calm down and let him beg for forgiveness. When her house came into view Danny slowed down and moved towards her window. He stopped short when he was hovering just in front of it and rapped his knuckles against the glass.

After accidentally phasing in on her a few times when she was in various states of undress, Danny took to knocking before entering her room. The only saving grace was that he had been invisible at the time and thus Sam had no idea that he had seen her practically naked.

That would have made things way awkward.

It had been awkward when he couldn't look at her without blushing or without an explanation for a few days.

"Sam?" he called in when no one answered his knocks, "You there?" he heard someone moving around, "I'm coming in."

He phased in and found himself standing in the middle of Sam's dark room. Sam herself was sitting cross legged on her bed with a book open on the bed in front of her.

"I missed you at school," Danny started hesitantly when she didn't so much as look up at him, "I mean, Tucker and I missed you."

"What do you want Danny?" her voice had a hard tint to it as she finally turned her amethyst eyes up to look at him.

He almost ran away again as he squirmed under the glare she was giving him.

"I'm sorry that I upset you Sam," Danny came to stand at the edge of her bed.

"I'm sure you are," was Sam's stiff reply, and then, "do you mind turning back? You're making the room cold."

Danny did what he was asked and shuffled his feet nervously, trying to figure out how he would go about this.

"Look," he began, "I was a jerk to make fun of you. I should be more respectful to you and your causes and will help you in any way I can."

He sighed when he got it out and she continued to stare at him.

"You rehearsed that didn't you?"

"Since lunch," Danny replied sheepishly.

"Since lunch and that's all you came up with? You're not creative are you."

Danny probably would have felt a little offended had Sam not been smiling by the time she was finished. He sighed an inward sigh of relief before he answered.

"You know, you're the second person to say that to me today."

"Really?" Sam's curiosity was peaked and she gestured for him to sit down beside her, "Do tell."

"Well Ember stopped by school today-" Danny began, but was cut off in worry.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt?"

"No, well kinda. But that was from last night."

That was the wrong thing to say, because Sam automatically demanded to see what was wrong. His protests fell on deaf ears and after a minute of arguing, Danny knew that it was no use. He pulled the shirt he was wearing up over his head and let her examine his back.

"They're not as bad as last night," Danny offered her, but Sam ignored him and studied the ugly red burn that covered his lower back.

It felt kind of weird having his shirt off, but only because that was something he tried to avoid lately. Not only had three years of ghost hunting done well for his physique, it also left scars. Some of them could be easily be explained, like he fell into something, while others would be harder to lie about. He had also had to start wearing long sleeves shirts lately because, thanks to one of Skulker's last attacks; there were scars up and down his forearms. It looked like he was a cutter, and that would cause way too many questions. Hopefully they would fade enough by summer that he wouldn't have to suffer through heat stroke.

"What happened?"

"Valerie," was Danny's blunt reply before he gave Sam all the details.

Sam was chewing on her lower lip, and Danny could see the worry in her eyes. It made him smile a bit, knowing she cared so much.

"You should have come back here," Sam informed him after minutes of silence, "you should have put something on that burn, and it's not like Jazz is there to patch you up."

Jazz was in her second year of university, majoring in psychology of course, and was an hour away. She had given up Ivy League in order to stay close. At first she had decided to attend Amity U and stay at home, but Danny had convinced her that she would never forgive herself is she didn't at least get somewhat away. So Jazz moved, but stayed close enough that she could be there in case there was an emergency. It made Danny's life harder with her being gone, especially when it came to lying to his parents, but he was thrilled she got the opportunity.

Though Danny knew he would always feel guilty that Jazz had given up her Ivy League dreams for him.

"Umm Sam," Danny reminded her, "I ran out of here in fear of my life last night."

"Oh," Sam replied after a moment, remembering that, "let me get the kit."

"It'll be healed soon," Danny tried to stop her, but Sam was already on her feet and moving across the room. When she reached her dresser, Sam pulled open the third drawer, dug through the sweaters that were inside and fished out a specially equipped first aid kit.

"Putting on some burn ointment won't hurt," Sam informed him as she returned and climbed back on the bed, "now turn around."

Danny did as he was told, and hissed in pain when the cloth caked in ointment made contact with his skin.

"Sorry," Sam said as she continued to apply it. After a moment, "about last night too."

Danny stayed quiet, knowing that Sam would only open up if she wanted to, if he didn't push her.

"It's just…" she started again, and there was real emotion in her voice, "my parents left again. A sudden business trip was their excuse. We…we were supposed to have plans tomorrow night; Amity U's music department is having an orchestra concert. Classical music is something we all enjoy…I even agreed to wear a dress with a dash of colour. And they _left_…"

For the past while Sam had been attempting to get closer to her parents. She wanted a relationship with them, and the way to do that was to actually spend time together. She was trying to get them to accept her for who she was, but Sam had grown up enough to realize two things; A. She had to accept her parents for who they were just like she wanted them to accept her, and B. she had come to understand that comprise didn't mean the same thing as throwing away her ideals.

Danny wanted to curse the Mansons but kept all his nasty words inside. Sam didn't need to hear them right now. Apparently Sam was putting more effort into the relationship building than they were.

"I'm sorry Sam," he told her softly, sincerely, "can you get your Nan to go with you? I know it's not the same, but still…"

"She's gone for the week," Sam's voice was sad and yet amused, "her and a bunch of girls from her bridge club went to Vegas for a poker tournament."

Danny chuckled at the image. The funniest thing was that he could easily picture it. He loved Sam's grandma, and she was the only other one in the Manson family that liked him.

But Danny hated how utterly miserable Sam sounded, and knew he had to figure out a way to cheer her up.

"Well think of it this way," Danny told her, "at least you don't have to worry about your parents bursting in and seeing us on your bed with you rubbing cream on my half naked body."

He was rewarded with a snort.

"You sure give yourself a lot of credit, Halfa."

Danny smiled despite the sarcasm. Now this was the Sam he knew and loved.

"You wound me Sam."

Then the pressure was off of his back and he felt Sam get off of the bed.

"Done," she announced as she returned the kit to its rightful spot.

"Thanks Sam," he told her as he replaced his shirt.

He was so amazed at how comfortable he still was with her, especially now that he knew he loved her. In the past he had been reduced to a bumbling fool when he liked a girl, but with Sam everything was the same. God knows that if he had been sitting on a bed in an empty house with his shirt off and being touched during the times he liked Paullina or Val, he would have phased through the floor by now.

Not that this whole situation didn't get under his skin, especially the whole Sam touching him part. He just handled it better.

"So Ember at school?" Sam asked when she turned back to him.

"How about I tell you about it over at the Nasty Burger?" Danny suggested, figuring that getting her out of this big, empty house would make her feel better, "I'll even buy you a nice fresh salad."

"Danny Fenton this is the twenty first century and I can buy my own salad. I am a working woman after all."

"Well Ms. Career," Danny smirked, "you can buy me lunch next time. Now come on."

"Fine," Sam sighed dramatically, "just let me put on some real clothes. Meet me downstairs."

Danny nodded and then with a grin phased through the floor. He heard Sam yell something about being a show off and his grin only grew wider.

At times like these he really enjoyed having ghost powers.

He waited at the front door and five minutes later Sam bounded down the stairs. He watched her rush down and couldn't help but be amazed at how much they had all grown up, especially her.

She had grown taller over the past year, though the top of her head only reached Danny's chin since he had his own growth spurt. Along with up she had grown curvier; she was still petite, but you would never look at her and think she was a push over. Sam had grown her hair out and normally wore it flowing down her back opposed to up in a half pony tail. She was still a Goth of course, but just a little different kind of Goth. She let her tastes expand when she came to the conclusion that not wearing something because it was ungoth was the same as not wearing something because it was unpopular. Now there was a selection of dark greens, navy blues and blood reds in her sea of black and purple. Pink would still _never_ happen though. Not to mention her tastes had come to enjoy clothes that were a bit more feminine.

At the moment she was wearing a black and purple lace up corset top that was covered with a violet zip up sweater and a pair of black jeans. One thing that hadn't changed though; she still wore the same beat up combat boots.

"I'm ready," Sam announced when she reached him.

"Fly or walk?"

"Walk," Sam decided after a moment, "if it's this warm in October I'm going to enjoy as much of it as I can."

"After you Ms. Manson."

Sam just scoffed and rolled her eyes, and Danny laughed.

At the moment, he had forgotten all about the somewhat unnerving news Ember had given him.

l.l.l.l.l

"It's a simple yes or no answer; can the information be confirmed or not?"

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

"No sir. We can't completely confirm the information provided."

There was a sigh from the man on the end of the line.

"Fine. What are you inclined to believe given the information you've gathered?"

This time there was no pause.

"Sir, we are ready to conclude that the subject, Ember McLain, is indeed a ghost. We just need to gather evidence."

The man nodded and digested what he was told.

"Very good. You have three days to conclude your investigation. After that time you will put all information you have gathered into a file and report to me. Then you will be given your next subject. That is all."

"Yes sir."

l.l.l.l.l

An- First off, I don't think that there is such thing as Amity University. Think of that part as creative licence. So as you may have noticed, this chapter wasn't exactly over flowing with action. It was more of a chapter that let you catch up with what has been going on with the characters. The next chapter will be like that too, and possibly the one after that will be similar. Anyway, hope you enjoyed the chapter, and be sure to leave a review. Peace, love & Rainbows everyone!


	3. Chapter 3

An- Wow, I'm just pumping these chapters out left, right and centre. I wonder how long it'll be before writer's block comes along and bites me in the ass (it's going to hit me at least once per story *sigh*). Anyway, here's chapter three. It's huge in case you haven't noticed. So enjoy!

Chapter Three

Amity Park was far from quiet as Sam and Danny walked down its streets. City workers were bustling about, most of them hanging up decorations on lampposts and city buildings. As of last year, Halloween had become quite a big deal in Amity Park.

At first the ghost attacks had driven people away, but just as quickly it brought tons of people back in. Tourists actually.

Being one of the world's most (if not most period) haunted places seemed to make the curious and semi-morbid flock to the town. And when there was a ninety-nine percent chance of seeing a ghost during your visit, probably during some sort of attack, many people were more than willing to travel great distances. Also having one ghostly superhero as an attraction was a great selling point.

Being the business man that he was, Mayor Vlad had seen the potential profit and ran with it; there were ghost tours that ran three times daily, a number of ghost related shops and a museum was ready to open its doors on Halloween night. Amity's economy was based on tourism generated by ghosts.

So of course Halloween was the crowning jewel of all ghost related activities. Amity went all out for Halloween, even more so than they did for Christmas. The amount of things the city and businesses were planning for that one day was only rivaled by the amount of people that would be coming in to enjoy them.

"You know," Sam spoke up as she watched two men string ghost lights between two telephone poles, "I almost feel like someone should let people know that most ghosts, Fright Knight excluded, take Halloween off."

Most ghosts avoided terrorizing people on Halloween just so they wouldn't play into the stereotype. Most of them just partied instead.

Danny shrugged.

"Vlad'll just pay some of them to fly around and scare the tourists and throw some lame attacks at me. That way the tourists get what they want, not too much damage is done and he gets to make my night miserable."

"Can't disappoint all those people who came to see a real live –so to speak- ghost. Especially when most of them came to see the one and only Danny Phantom."

Sam was grinning and Danny wanted to groan.

"Please don't remind me."

Danny had quickly found being famous was way overrated. The whole idea of rabid fan girls had lost its lustre too. It seemed the thing his fans did most was somehow manage to get themselves in his way.

"Aww, what's wrong?" Sam continued to tease, "Has Phantom gotten tired of the spotlight already?"

"Phantom got tired of the spotlight the moment some genius decided to make Danny Phantom plushies."

One small vendor sold Phantom merchandise and only Phantom merchandise. One of the large rooms in the museum was devoted to him too.

"I don't know Danny," Sam's voice was cheeky, "I think they're adorable."

"Next thing you're going to say is that you actually bought one."

As a slight blush tinged Sam's cheeks, Danny stopped walking and gaped at her. _Had_ she?

"It was when he just opened," Sam hastily explained, "he was a small business owner after all, and I wanted to support him…"

"Sam," he asked her, "why would you need a plushie when you have the real thing?"

The minute it was out of his mouth Danny realized all the innuendos that could be taken from that one sentence.

Oh, if only Sam realized how true that statement was. God knows is she asked, Sam could have him anyway she wanted…

_Bad Fenton_, he chided himself, _Don't go there_.

Suddenly Danny wondered if Sam ever cuddled with that thing the way Jazz sometimes did with Bearbert when she thought no one was looking. Then Danny realized that he was jealous if a stupid stuffed animal.

"Like I said," Sam replied, "I was supporting the owner."

"Of course," Danny gave a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Anyway, I'm sure your parents are thrilled with the tourists, even if you're not," Sam continued on, "I mean, they get to give classes on defending from ghosts and sell some of their inventions. Not to mention your house is one of the main parts of the tour, even if it is only from the outside."

"They do love that part," Danny agreed, "Dad keeps getting chances to blather on about ghosts to new people, though all the positive attention Phantom gets drives them insane."

Sam was about to say something else when Danny's ghost sense went off.

He looked around for both a sign of the ghost and a place to transform. The street was crowded but there was an alley he could duck into. No ghost was showing up yet, but when his ears picked up the roar of a motorcycle, Danny made a guess at who was coming. A moment later a motorcycle streaked past them on the street, Johnny 13 as the driver and Kitty sitting behind him.

"Hi Danny!" Kitty called out with a wave when she noticed him standing on the sidewalk.

Then Johnny 13 had driven past them and was turning a corner, and Danny made no move to stop them.

"Ever since you made that deal," Sam pointed out, "she had been creepily friendly."

"I know, but at least she's not using me to piss off Johnny again. I just hope they don't decide to cause trouble; I'm in no mood to chase them down."

Last year Danny had caught Youngblood and his stupid skeletal parrot playing around in the water park after it was closed. Of course Danny had gone straight to fighting, witty banter and attempting to catch the child ghost with the Fenton thermos. Then Youngblood had said something that made Danny stop fighting.

"Come on! I'm not doing anything!"

Which was true as far as Danny could tell; he had just been using the waterslides.

"What are you doing then?" Danny had asked.

"Having fun," the ghost had replied, and then proceeded to explain.

The Ghost Zone was a pretty boring place, so it was common for ghosts to come into the human world to have some fun. And it wasn't always destructive, but sometimes something as simple as a night at the water park.

Inspiration and sheer genius had hit Danny that night and he struck up a deal; Youngblood was to tell all the ghosts that if they came out of the Ghost Zone and made absolutely no trouble, he'd leave them alone. The minute they broke the agreement Danny would be on their ass and there would be no second chances.

So far the deal had worked wonders; Danny's ghost fighting was cut in half and the ghosts who took advantage didn't completely hate him anymore.

Johnny and Kitty were the ones who used it the most, but quite a few others did too.

"We're here," Danny unnecessarily announced when the Nasty Burger came into view.

"Good, it looks pretty empty. That way we can avoid the whole having to use code when you tell me about Ember."

They entered and stood in line for a whole of two minutes and then took a seat at their usual table. It felt kind of weird to be there without Tucker, but Danny shrugged it off. It wasn't as thoughit was a date or anything.

"I'm waiting," Sam said once they were settled, and for the second time told the Ember story.

When he was finished, Sam looked concerned.

"It could be a coincidence after all, but just dismissing it seems foolish. We'll have to be careful what we put in the files and keep our eyes and ears open for anyone asking any weird questions."

"Don't you think it'd help her image?" Danny wondered out loud, "Ember? I mean, you'd think people finding out she was a ghost would make her more popular. Especially when she legally can't be touched because of it."

A year ago, right after he made his deal with the ghosts, a protest group that fought for ghost rights popped out of nowhere. Their slogan 'Ghosts Were People Too' was cheesy but effective; in a small amount of time the group had grown to include everyone from the average person to hot shot human rights lawyers.

They fought against the ecto-laws, and with extreme public support on their side, got them amended. It was now against the law for anyone to go after a ghost who was doing nothing wrong. That way, some poor ghost who was just minding their own business haunting their house or whatever wouldn't be turned into a government experiment.

They had used Phantom as their poster boy of how good ghosts could really be.

Danny had been amazed that it had worked, and also baffled about where it came from. No matter how he investigated, he couldn't find out who or how it had all started. It bothered him because he hated mysteries, but he was forever grateful to whoever had started it.

Although it hurt that his parents had been some of the biggest and loudest opponents to the amendments. He could still remember how upset his father had sounded when he realized he couldn't just catch a ghost and take them apart molecule by molecule.

"I don't know," Sam replied, "people finding out she was a ghost might make her more popular, but it could cause problems. Just because she can't be arrested doesn't mean people won't make trouble. Not to mention the government might see her pervious world conquest attempts as hostile and use it against her. There's a clause is in the admendant that leaves it up to an official to decide if a ghost should be protected or not, and past actions can be taken into account."

"Sam," Danny asked her in disbelief, "how did you know that? I'm a _ghost_ and I didn't know that."

For a brief second Sam's face looked like she had been caught doing something she shouldn't. Then it went right back to normal without explanation.

That was weird.

"I figured it was a big deal to know the fine print. You know, in case you ever needed it. Now you said something about your powers…"

"Last night my ecto-blasts were a little stronger than normal, or at least stronger than I wanted it to be. It wasn't like an extreme power boost or anything. Maybe I was just tired."

"Maybe, but we'll run tests tomorrow anyway. It's only been three months, but it won't hurt."

Every six months they tested his power levels. Thanks to a nifty invention his parents invented that measured the strength of ghost attacks, charting Danny's power and how it grew had become much easier. Every time they tested, he gained some sort of increase in power, even if it was slight.

"Tuck can check out my computer then too," Danny decided, "and my parents are leaving for some convention tomorrow morning so we won't have to worry about that."

Mentioning that his parents heading out of town reminded Sam that hers were too, and her face fell.

_Idiot_! Danny cursed himself.

"Then maybe we can head over to that concert," Danny suggested, "nothing will convince Tucker to go, but I will. That way you don't have to waste all the tickets. I'll dress up and everything."

"You hate classical music," Sam pointed out.

"Extremely, but we can't have you moping around all night," Danny noticed a man he knew to be the manager of the Nasty Burger come in, "Hey, I'll be right back okay."

Sam watched Danny walk away and disappear into the men's room and then turned her attention back to her salad. She really hadn't eaten any of it, more or less pushing it around with her fork. She wasn't hungry but grateful that Danny had gotten her out of her house. Just sitting in there feeling sorry for herself like she had been all day was unhealthy. Plus it wasn't something she let herself do often; she was Goth, _not_ emo.

She was just trying so hard to make the thing with her parents work. They still put her down sometimes, even if they didn't realize it. They still wondered why they couldn't have a 'normal' daughter, or why Sam wouldn't do more in their 'social circles'. She didn't loose her temper anymore. She made herself try to see where her parents were coming from, even if she refused to agree with them.

Sometimes it seemed as though they were trying too…but then something like this happened. They left. Again.

_There's always next time_, Sam told herself, _they're can't be trips every time we make plans. Plus, it'll be fun to make Danny sit through three hours of classical music. He'll either fall asleep or squirm the whole time, both of which are adorable._

Not to mention Danny in a suit was something she quite enjoyed seeing. It could be fun, even if it wasn't what she had planned. Maybe they could go somewhere afterwards to eat, sort of like a date.

Well, it would be if Danny thought of her that way.

Sam had concluded that he didn't, because she had dropped so many hints over the years it was rather embarrassing. No one could possibly be _that_ clueless. It just wasn't possible. But Sam was still happy with the friendship they had, and if she couldn't have more, okay. Sam wished there could be more, but she had accepted that it wasn't going to happen and moved on.

Sort of.

Five minutes of not eating and contemplation later, Danny emerged out of the bathroom, looking rather proud of himself.

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Was there a ghost?" she asked as he sat back down.

"Nope, but I got Val her job back; Phantom talked to the manager and convinced him it was me that accidentally caused the damage. He's going to call Val and offer her the job back plus a raise. I also mentioned that he should let her know it was me, maybe now she'll stop shooting at me for awhile."

Sam liked the sound of that, but doubted Valerie would back off so easily. That girl could hold a grudge like no other person Sam knew, including a large number of ghosts. The only person who could top her was Vlad. Despite popular belief, Sam's problem with Val was not all about the way Danny had liked her. Yes she had been jealous, but that wasn't even half of it; Val tried to kill Danny on a regular basis. How was she supposed to feel about the other girl?

"Hopefully," Sam agreed sincerely, figuring that it would give Val maybe a five minute pause.

"So you going to let me take you to that concert thing?" Danny asked her again, and Sam nodded, "Great, but I've got to run; I'm scheduled to help my parents in the lab. See you tonight on patrol?"

"Of course, and Danny, try not to get melted, blown up, picked apart or peeled."

"I'll do my best Sam," he replied with a lopsided grin, "but I need to get money for the car fund somehow."

Why Danny felt the need to buy a car when he could fly wherever he wanted was beyond her. After all, flying was so much more environmentally friendly.

"Bye Danny," she called out when he was about to walk out, and then in a small voice only she would hear added, "and thanks…for everything."

Refusing to fall back into self pity, Sam got up to leave too. She'd go bother Tucker at his job…

And wonder what she would wear tomorrow night. Not that she was going to pick her outfit based on what Danny may like or anything.

l.l.l.l

"Jack dear, I thought you said you fixed the Ghost Gabber…"

Danny stood beside his mother, tense as she looked down at the invention in her hand in utter confusion.

He had been helping his parents clean up the lab, because someone had managed to convince them to let the ghost tours in to check out the ghost portal for the Halloween tours. That all but screamed bad idea to Danny, but no one ever listened to him.

So his mother had been trying to decide which inventions to display and which to put away until further notice. She had called Danny over for his opinion, and he been holding the Ghost Gabber at the time. When Danny spoke it replied with "What do you want Mom? Fear me."

Which led to Danny's near panic attack as he stood there, waiting for his mother to piece it all together.

"I did Mads!" was his father's cry from upstairs.

"But it's picking up Danny's voice again," Maddie said to herself, and Danny took this opportunity to save himself.

"Well you know Dad Mom," Danny laughed nervously, "he probably was just about to, went to get some fudge and forgot all about it."

The Ghost Gabber repeated what he said with two additional fear me's.

Maddie seemed to consider his answer for a minute and then shook her head with a laugh "That does sound like your father. Well, I'll just take a look at this later. For now we'll put it in storage with the other broken stuff."

_Memo to self_, Danny though, _break that thing before Mom takes a look at it and realizes it's fine._

"Imagine," Maddie laughed again, "thinking you were a ghost!"

For geniuses his parents were actually pretty dumb.

_And people think I'm the clueless one_, Danny thought sarcastically.

"Yeah Mom…totally crazy…"

He wanted to tell his parents. He had come close a dozen times, but he always stopped himself. Danny knew they would accept him, so that wasn't the issue. He was just waiting for the right time, or at least the time that felt right to him.

He hoped it came soon, because the lying was getting harder.

"Well what do you think Danny?" Maddie went back to the reason she had called him over, "What should we put on display?"

"Keep the Fenton Peeler, the Jack O'nine Tails and the ecto-guns," Danny concluded, "but ditch the Fenton Anti Creep Stick."

Danny took a glance at the clock on the wall and sighed in relief. It was finally time to get out of there. He'd patrol for a few hours with Sam and then be done for the night.

"Hey Mom? I'm taking off okay? I'm going to go over to Sam's to do some homework."

"Have fun sweetie, and please don't come in late tonight."

Danny didn't say anything. He wasn't going to make a promise he wasn't one hundred percent sure he could keep. Hopefully he would have a slow night and be able to make curfew, but it wasn't a definite.

"Bye Mom," Danny called back over his shoulder as he bounded up the stairs. He passed his Father, who was rummaging around the inside of the fridge, "bye Dad."

"Danny," his father stopped him, "are you going to help out during the tour? Jazz is coming down to help too. We can show the world why the Fentons are the greatest ghost hunters around!"

Danny's eyebrows rose at the idea of Jazz helping out. When he emailed her the details of what she would be coming home to, she'd probably hate the idea more than he did. If Jazz was coming down for that weekend it was most likely to check up on him.

"Right…" Danny searched his mind for an excuse, "I can't…Sam, Tucker and I are all going to the big party in the park…"

Party in the Park was half party and half carnival. It was also another Halloween night attraction. One section was an outdoor dance floor surrounded by various places to get something to eat and only a little ways from that was a carnival with rides and games for all ages. Everything was Halloween and ghost related of course.

As of right then Danny and his friends had no plans to attend the party, but if that was his way to get out of helping his parents, he'd beg Sam and Tucker to go. See, when he helped his parents they always wanted him to either hold something or demonstrate how it couldn't hurt humans. Since he was the only who could get melted, blown up, picked apart or peeled, helping was something he tried to avoid.

It was almost as if the universe was determined to force him to reveal himself.

"Oh well," Jack sounded disappointed for only a second, "maybe next time!"

There was another thing he wasn't going to promise.

When he was outside he ducked into an alley and transformed.

"Goin' Ghost!"

Once finished, he stuck the Fenton Phones into his ears and took off towards the park where he was meeting Sam.

"Goth one," he spoke up, "you there?"

"Waiting in the usual spot Clueless One," Sam's voice came over the speakers.

"Okay, I think it's seriously time we get some new code names," Danny was getting kind of irritated that after three years he was still named clueless, "I mean, Phantom One or Ghostboy One would work just as well."

He could hear Sam giggling and he scowled.

"I'm going to start calling you Sammykins One if you don't stop," he warned her, and the laughter abruptly cut off.

"You wouldn't _dare_."

"Wanna bet Sammykins?"

"You're dead when you get here Ghostboy!"

Danny smiled in triumph; he had won.

Three minutes later Danny landed in the park and found Sam waiting for him sitting against a tree. Danny opened his mouth to say something but found himself abruptly ducking to avoid the combat boot that came flying at his head. Thank God for good reflexes. Otherwise he would have gotten it square in the face.

Sam was glaring as she got to her feet and marched towards him, looking murderous.

"Do _not_," she hissed as she poked his chest, "call me Sammykins!"

"Wow," Danny threw up his hands in surrender, "calm down. I won't call you Sammykins. Please don't kill me."

"You better not," Sam huffed out, going past him to retrieve her boot.

"So ah," Danny spoke up, "where do you want to start?"

"Just make the usual loop. It goes faster that way."

Danny nodded and floated up into the air and waited for Sam to get back to her electric scooter.

"Ready?" he asked her through the phones.

"Let's do it. I still have stuff I want to finish tonight."

They both took off, Danny in the sky and Sam on the road. They went on silently until Danny breached a new subject.

"So Halloween night my dad asked me to help out at the lab," Danny didn't have to be looking at Sam to know she winced, "and I said we were going to the Party in the Park to get out of it. So, wanna go?" when she paused Danny realized that it sounded like he was asking her out and hastily added, "I mean all of us! Tucker of course, and he'll probably want to bring Val. Jazz is coming down, so she might want to come too…

"Oh."

He hated hearing the slight disappointment in her voice but brushed it off and repeated the same arguments he always made about why it was a bad idea to ask her out.

"Well I have nothing better to do anyway," she replied, her voice back to normal, "do I have to get a costume?"

"Ah, I think they're required, but I'm not sure."

Sam grumbled incoherently. Danny personally didn't understand what the big deal was; all she had do to was pick out her most gothic outfit, double up on the mascara and throw on a cape -which she already owned- over it and voila, one Halloween costume.

Danny was musing on what outfit he considered Sam's most gothic, and by extension hottest, when the net, which he hadn't seen coming, encircled him/ He yelped suddenly as he was ripped down towards the ground. He hit with a thump.

"Hello Ghost Child."

Danny groaned.

"Didn't I take care of you last night?"

How did Skulker get out of the Ghost Zone anyway? He could have sworn that the Fenton portal had been closed.

"Only a temporary setback. Now I have returned to collect your pelt."

No matter how many times Skulker said that, it didn't get any less disgusting.

"You say that every time," Danny pointed out, "and yet my skin is still attached to me. Why is it that I'm so special anyway? If you want a Halfa so much, why don't you go and hunt Vlad?"

"Why would I go after the old lion when I can take down the young cub?"

Danny couldn't help but snicker at the metaphor. If only he could see Vlad's face if Skulker ever called him 'old lion' to his face.

Danny attempted to phase through the net that trapped him…only to feel a million tiny bolts of lightning stab into his skin.

He screamed in sudden pain and his body jerked into an almost unnatural arch. When his concentration broke his attempt to phase out fell apart. With that went the electrical current. Even when the charge was gone his body continued to jerk in its aftermath. His skin, or maybe it was his outfit, was smoking and his nose caught the scent of something burning.

The pain, even if the shock hadn't lasted more than ten seconds, still had his brain in an iron grip. He was aware of Skulker was saying something about upgrades. He also knew he had to shake it off and find another way out of the net, but his mind wasn't working well yet.

"Leave him alone!"

He heard Sam's high pitched order screamed out and then a blur of green flew over head of him. Skulker, who had been looming above him, stumbled back away from him.

Sam stood no more than ten feet away, her gun smoking and levelled at Skulker.

Sam had seen Danny get electrocuted many times before, and knew something had to be different about this time. He usually would have been up by now, but he was just laying there.

So it was up to her to bail Danny out. Usually she and Tucker generally avoided getting involved with ghosts like Skulker, with all of his weapons. Sure they could fire weapons, provide back up and generally kick some ass, but they usually only stepped in if Danny really needed them.

Which seemed to be happening now.

"Back off!" Sam growled, glancing down at her friend to see that he had begun to squirm in something other than pain.

"Why you-"

Sam fired again, this time the power setting as high as it would go. Skulker was lifted off the ground and thrown back, smacking into a cluster of metal garbage cans.

Once he was down Sam ran to Danny's side and dropped to her knees beside him. She grabbed onto the rope that made up the net, expecting to be shocked the moment her hands made contact. Nothing happened, so she proceeded to rip the net off of him. Thankfully Danny had recovered and was able to help her out.

Sam pulled the net up over his head and began to toss it aside. Danny was looking up at her, and suddenly his green eyes went wide.

"Sam watch out!"

She looked down at him in confusion, and suddenly felt something grab onto the back of her shirt. She yelped as she was lifted off of the ground and found herself sailing through the air and away from Danny.

"Well, if it isn't the little girlfriend."

Skulker's voice reached her ears as she was abruptly lifted up in front of him. His grip on the back of her shirt was unwavering and one glance down told Sam that they were at least thirty feet off of the ground.

Sam would normally demand that he let her go, but knowing Skulker he would take it literally. So she settled with for glaring at him with one of the looks that would have sent Danny and Tucker running.

"It's unwise to get between a hunter and its prey, girl. Unless you want to become prey yourself."

Skulker gave her a look that seriously weirded Sam out. He seemed to be inspecting her and pondering something.

"Perhaps…you would make fine bait. Once I have the whelp's pelt I could add you to my collection. You are unique enough, and having a set of mates always increases the prize…"

Sam just stared at him in horror. Even after three years of hearing Skulker go on and on about killing Danny for his hide, it didn't revolt her any less when he started talking about doing it to her.

Sam began to struggle for real now, feeling as though she had to get away from him. She didn't care how high she was; she'd rather drop than have herself become some sort of wall decoration, let alone used to trap and then hurt Danny.

"Let me so you bastard!" Sam screamed angrily, kicking at him. Too bad not even her heavy combat boots left a dent in his metal suit.

"Fine then girl. Have it your way," Skulker smirked , and then opened his hand. He released her, and sent Sam plummeting back to the ground.

Back on the ground, Danny had finally managed to untangle himself from Skulker's net. He looked back up to the sky in time to see Skulker let go of Sam.

"Sam! No!" he cried in horror and launched himself off the ground.

He had to catch her! But she was still far away and falling fast.

The closer the ground came the louder Sam screamed. When she was only moments from hitting Sam clenched her eyes shut and her body tensed in preparation of impact…

But it never came.

Arms went around Sam's waist and abruptly jerked her away from the approaching ground. She was jarred in a way that left her head spinning and her stomach only moments from emptying.

Danny landed, the shaking Sam held tightly in his arms. He looked down at her to see that, though terrifiedshe wasn't injured.

"Stay here!" he ordered as he placed her gently on the ground.

Danny didn't stick around to hear if she would reply; he had to deal with Skulker.

A red hot fury was burning through him, and all he could see was red. How _dare_ he touch Sam? He almost _killed_ her.

This was the first time Skulker had ever openly threatened Sam…used her to hurt him, and the ghost was going to pay for it.

"You son of a bitch!" Danny screamed as he blasted at top speed towards Skulker, who was floating in the same spot.

Where he normally would have fired an ecto-beam, this time he didn't; he wanted to hit his enemy…to actually feel the contact.

Danny came at Skulker at the speed of a bullet, leaving the hunter no time to dodge or move away. He balled up fist connected with the chest plate of Skulker's suit…and traveled straight through.

Sparks flew everywhere when Danny pulled his arm out of the now gaping hole. Soon as his arm was out he swung again, this time catching Skulker in the right side of the face.

He was vaguely aware that pain was coursing from his fist and up his arm, but he blocked it out. Skulker had to pay for what he had almost done to Sam. He had to learn to never go after her again.

"You will _never_ touch her again!" Danny cried out in rage.

This time when Danny hit Skulker it was with an ecto-blast gathered around his fist. It obliterated Skulker's right shoulder, sending bits and chunks of metal flying everywhere.

By now Skulker had reached the conclusion that it was time to get out of there, but Danny wasn't letting him. Phantom was hell bent on destruction. Skulker was just about to eject from the suit and take his chances with the fall when the enraged Halfa backed off.

He raised his open palm and pointed it at his enemy. Instead of green, a blue aura shone around it. Then a beam of ice shot out of it, hitting Skulker in his remaining shoulder. It pushed him back into a solid object and pinned him there. Only when Skulker was good and secure did Danny stop.

It took him a moment to see that, once again, he had used more power than intended. He had only meant to freeze Skulker to the wall, but now everything but his face was completely encased in ice, including the entire side of the building and half of the roof.

Danny hovered there panting, glaring at where Skulker was trapped. He wanted to continue this fight, wanted to continue kicking the crap out of the ghost, but stopped himself. The battle was over and he won. There was no more need for violence.

Danny was sure that later on, when the anger was gone he'd be horrified about what he was doing, but right now he didn't care. He knew he'd stare into the mirror and study himself, searching for the evil he knew was buried in there…and was currently making an ugly appearance. He'd done that before, and that was without a battle this vicious.

Right now it was taking all his concentration to walk away.

He flew up to Skulker and got right in his face.

"Try and hurt her again," Danny hissed in cold fury, "and this will be nothing compared to what I will do to you."

Skulker looked terrified, and that made Danny glad. God help him, but he meant the threat.

Danny turned and flew back to the ground to where Sam stood waiting for him. When his feet touched the ground he stumbled. The white rings passed over him as the sudden exhaustion hit him.

Sam was there to catch him.

She had watched the fight from the ground with wide eyes. Danny was…he was…

Brutal. More pissed off than she had ever seen him. Frightening.

He scared her in a way. She wasn't scared of him, because every fibre of her being knew that Danny would never hurt her, but was scared of what he was doing. The way he fought…the sheer destructive power reminded her of something. Someone she prayed she would never have to come face to face with again. Someone the boy in front of her could become.

When the fight was over her heart seized up; what would he be like when he reached her? Yet the moment he landed and stumbled all apprehension was gone. Danny needed her.

She sat them both down on the sidewalk and let him lean on her for support.

"Are you alright?" he asked her, looking her over.

"I've been better, but I'm fine," she replied, "what about you?"

With that question Danny seemed to realize he was in pain. His body hurt in general, but he glanced down and saw his hand was a torn and bloody mess. Sam followed his line of vision, saw the injury and cringed.

"What about him?" Same asked quietly.

Danny glanced up to where Skulker, who was being unusually quiet, was still frozen.

"By the time that ice melts he'll be in no mood or condition to fight. He'll run back to the Ghost Zone with his tail between his legs."

Sam nodded and decided it was time to leave.

"Come on, you need that hand patched up. We'll head over to my house," Danny stood up, beginning to transform…only to begin to swoon, "and I'll be driving us there."

Danny didn't protest as she helped him walk to where her scooter was parked. They walked on in silence.

"So," Sam spoke up, "should I be flattered or extremely disturbed that Skulker thinks I'm unique enough to add to his collection?"

Danny tensed up and stopped walking altogether.

Skulker _what_!

A low growl came out of his throat as he turned around. Only Sam's death grip on his forearm stopped him from going back to inflict more damage.

"Danny no! I'm fine! Besides, after that I doubt he'll ever want to be near me again," to break the mood Sam decided to joke, "apparently we're a matching set. I guess Skulker thinks we make a cute couple."

Suddenly his arms were around her, enveloping her in a tight hug. Sam tensed up for a moment and then melted into the embrace.

If only Danny would hold her like this when there wasn't some near death experience.

"God, Sam, I'm sorry," he whispered into her hair, "if it wasn't for me…I'll never let anyone hurt you. I swear. I was so scared…I…I…" he was so close to telling her he loved her, "…I'm glad you're okay…"

But he couldn't. Tonight just proved it; if she could be used to hurt him now, it would only get worse if they ever got together. He couldn't put her in anymore danger than he already did.

Sam felt disappointment at his words but didn't show it.

"I know Danny…now come on, let's go."

He didn't let her go at first because he was reluctant to give up the sensation of her body held tightly against him. Only when she began to squirm did he take his arms away from her.

Sam didn't want him to let go either, but the whole bleeding thing was enough incentive to want to get back to her house.

They continued to her scooter, which was not meant to accommodate more than one person.

"Sit," Sam ordered him, and he did as he was told. She took a seat in front of him, practically sitting in his lap. She shifted but found no other way to make the arrangement would work. It made her uncomfortable because of just how comfortable she felt like this. Oh well, it was only three blocks to her house. As long as they weren't stopped by cops they would be fine. Sam started the machine and Danny's arms came around her waist. She was a bit surprised at this, considering the chances of him falling off were slim, but decided she didn't mind.

Danny knew he wouldn't fall off either, but this was an excuse to put his arms around Sam again, and he was going to take it. Not to mention enjoy it.

Ten minutes later they pulled into Sam's driveway. She parked her scooter in her garage and continued to help Danny into the house.

He felt absolutely exhausted. All the adrenaline was gone, leaving him to realize just how much energy he had used in such a short fight. His entire body ached from the electricity and his arm throbbed. He was sure it was that last power boost that had done him in.

What he knew for sure was that he was done for the night.

After hauling him upstairs Sam put Danny down on her bed and went for the kit. She was fairly certain she'd have to restock it soon.

"Let me see your hand," Sam said when she was back at his side.

It was a bloody mess; the skin around and on the knuckles was ripped and shredded. The blood was beginning to clot but there was still a whole lot of it. That's what he got for punching metal.

As Sam inspected his hand Danny leaned his head back against the headboard and closed his eyes. He winced when Sam began to clean the wound, but his mind begin to drift and the pain faded away.

"Why didn't you just blast him?" Sam's voice asked him, "It would have been easier."

"Didn't want to," he mumbled.

Sam didn't ask anymore questions while she worked. She wasn't sure if it was because she didn't want to know the answers or because she knew Danny wouldn't be able to give a straight one.

Finally Sam wrapped gauze around his hand and was done. She gathered up the bloody cloths and her kit, and then returned them to their proper places.

"Thanks Sammy…" Danny managed to whisper coherently as he fell back into unconsciousness.

"Don't call me-" Sam whirled around angrily, ready to scold him.

She stopped when she realized Danny was fast asleep.

A small smile crept across her face as she watched him sleep. Seeing him like this, passed out on her bed, you'd never believe he was a superhero.

Based on how peaceful he looked now, you'd never believe how bad he had lost it just over half an hour ago.

"Goodnight Danny. Sweet dreams."

l..

An- It is way too fun to write Danny all brutal and pissed. I think I'll have to do it more often (insert evil grin here). So that's it for now, hope you enjoyed and don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you thought! Please, Love & Rainbows!


	4. Chapter 4

An- Hey everyone! Welcome to chapter four! I'm glad everyone is enjoying this so far. It's not as long or as action packed as the last chapter, but I hope this won't disappoint. Enjoy!

Chapter Four

Danny's eyes blinked open, the beeping sound echoing in his ears. He groaned, taking a moment to realize what it was. Instead of getting up to hit the snooze button he just rolled over and buried his face into a pillow.

Wait a minute…didn't his alarm clock play music, not beep?

Danny opened his eyes fully and realized he wasn't in his room.

He sat up abruptly, looking around at his surroundings. After a second he realized that he was in Sam's room. After a second he realized he was in Sam's bed.

His eyes widened and he frantically searched his mind for memories of the night before. He…they hadn't…had they?

"Danny?" Sam's sleep hazed voice pulled him out of his near panic attack.

His eyes shot to the direction her voice had come from. Sam was sitting on her comfy, massive chair, stretching her limbs out with a yawn.

"Sam?" he asked her in confusion, "What am I doing here?"

"You fell asleep when I was treating your hand. You were just so tired, I couldn't wake you up. Don't worry, I called your Mom last night; I told her you fell asleep studying. She said she'd see you when they got back from the conference."

Sam climbed out of her chair, continuing to stretch as she made her way to her alarm clock, which was still going off.

"You should have woken me up," Danny told her as he swung his legs over the side of the bed, "if only to kick me off of the bed so you could have it."

"Don't worry about it," Sam replied easily, waving his words off, "I don't mind. My chair is comfortable. You were the one that passed out, so I figured you could use the bed more."

Danny still didn't like it, and seeing that made Sam roll her eyes.

"Danny anytime I end up crashing at your place I get the bed. Think of this as returning the favor."

Sam was moving around her room, shoving books into her spider backpack and hauling clothes out of her closet.

"You have clothes in the bottom drawer," Sam informed him from inside his closet.

Danny went to her dresser and opened the drawer. He dug through a drawer of winter clothes and pulled out a pair of jeans and a red sweater.

At any given time he had at least one outfit stashed away at both Sam and Tucker's houses. Not only for times like this, but instances where his normal clothes had been either destroyed or were in plain bad shape. That way he didn't walk into his house looking like he had walked through a hurricane.

That would only lead to more questions and even more lies.

"How's your hand?" Sam asked as she came out, clothes bundled in her arms.

Danny looked at her in confusion for a moment and then turned his eyes down to his hands. There was gauze wrapped around his right hand, and the events of the previous night flashed into his mind.

They had been on patrol last night and Skulker had attacked. He used some sort of electricity to incapacitate him…and then had almost killed Sam.

Then Danny had totally lost it.

Sam saw the change come over Danny's face and wished she hadn't asked. She knew Danny better than anyone, and now that he had calmed down, it would horrify him.

"Let me see," Sam took hold of the hand she had taken care of. She gently unwrapped the gauze and looked on what little damage was left; the deep cuts were gone and now it looked as though he had just scrapped his knuckles. She gazed her thumb over the minor injuries, amazed once again at how fast he could heal.

For once Danny barely noticed the physical contact from Sam. His mind was playing over the battle last night in excruciating detail.

"Danny," Sam's voice was soft and yet forceful, giving him no choice but to focus on her, "thank you. Without you I'd have been just a bloody mess on the road."

He winced at that horrible image, and the anger flared in him again. Disgust at that anger came on its heels.

"I'd never let you fall Sammy."

Sam almost snapped at him for calling her that, but she didn't; there was still conflict in his beautiful eyes. She wanted that gone, and if calling her Sammy would help, so be it.

"I know," she told him, "I know."

Danny almost wrapped her into another hug like he had last night, but he stopped himself.

God he wanted to touch her, to have her in his arms. She was his anchor, the thing that made him always feel better. Having her close would stop his twisting thoughts and emotions.

But should he feel better? He had practically ripped Skulker's suit apart, and had to physically stop himself form going in for more. If he could punch a hole through metal like that, what could he do to her if he ever lost control? He could hurt her worse than Skulker ever could.

He told himself he never would and just promised her that, but he knew he could. Twice he had nearly killed her; once under Freakshow's control and the other had been his future self. Not to mention all the times she was put in danger because of him.

He could hurt her so much.

"Danny," Sam tried again, reaching out to him only to have him back away.

"Can I use your shower?" Danny asked abruptly.

She blinked at the sudden question but nodded. Soon as he had confirmation Danny rushed into the adjoining bathroom. Not even a minute later the sound of the shower hit the air.

Sam sighed, eyes almost burning with tears.

Why did he have to have such a hero complex? He had lost his temper, and yes the result had been scary. But it was _one time_. He had backed off hadn't he? He _stopped_ himself despite his anger…

But Danny wouldn't see it that way. He'd see the destruction he had caused, not the walking away part. He'd compare himself to that…that monster.

"Oh Danny," Sam whispered as she began to change into her clothes.

In the shower Danny had the water temperature as high as it would go. He stood under the scalding spray, letting the heat and steam soothe his aching body.

But his mind was far from soothed.

All he could see was what had happened last night.

He understood the fury and could even accept it; someone had put Sam in danger. Of course that sent him into a rage. It's how he channelled that rage that left his stomach turning over. Sure he had a tendency to take his anger out physically; piss him off and he would take it out on the nearest ghost. Throw a few punches, fire an ecto-blast or two and then into the thermos they went. Last night had gone beyond that.

Yes he had only thrown a few punches, but those punches had done more damage than an hour long fight would have.

That wasn't blowing off steam…

When he blew off steam he never wanted to destroy. He didn't want to cause pain. He had wanted to last night and had taken perverse pleasure in it.

_Now who does that sound like_? A voice –his voice- taunted him.

_No_, Danny countered, _I'm not you and I never will be_!

That was his worst fear…the thing that haunted his nightmares. Becoming Dan. Even if he had promised he never would, that trickle of fear was buried in him.

And hadn't he proved that? Proved his fears were sound? That there was still evil in him, and he couldn't control it all the time.

_You see_, Dan's taunting voice was there again, _you're even admitting it now._

"Shut the fuck up!" Danny growled out loud, gritting his teeth.

Even if he protested Danny couldn't dismiss the awful words. He had enjoyed seeing Skulker's pain and fear. Just like his future self would have.

"Danny?" Sam's voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts, "Are you almost done? We'll end up being late if you take much longer."

He contemplated ignoring her and skipping on the school thing. How could he concentrate on school when he knew that he'd be plagued by voices all day? It would be so much easier to just stay under the boiling water. It's not like the Mansons couldn't afford the water bill.

"Danny," now Sam sounded irritated, "if you don't get out I'm coming in and hauling you out!"

It only proved Danny was feeling miserable when that idea didn't hold as much appeal as it normally would.

Regretfully he turned off the water and instead of taking the time to towel dry himself he phased the water off his skin and hair. He stepped out of the shower and threw his clothes on, leaving his old ones in a neat pile on the floor. Sam would get them washed and use them to replace the ones he was wearing. It was what they always did.

He could only imagine the heart attacks her parents would have if they found out he kept clothes here, let alone found his discarded ones in Sam's bathroom.

He opened the door and found Sam standing not far from it, hands on her hips and tapping her foot impatiently.

"Took you long enough."

"Sorry," he managed a sheepish reply.

"Come on. We still have to go to your house to get your stuff."

Twenty minutes later Danny Phantom, with Sam held bridal style in his arms, landed in the bushes outside of their school. He placed Sam on the ground, changed back to Fenton and after making sure no one was around they stepped out from the bushes.

Unless disaster struck they were all going to make it to class on time. They walked towards the school, neither one speaking.

Danny hadn't said a word to her since he had walked out of her bathroom. He was barely paying attention to her, been reluctant to touch her let alone pick her up to fly, so she had stopped trying.

Sam was ready to tear her hair out or even better, smack him upside the head. She got that he was upset, but she hated when he got like that. She hated not being able to reach him, of him not letting her in to help.

They reached the front steps and walked into the crowd of arriving students. Once they were inside Sam turned to her friend and spoke.

"I have to get to my locker. Meet you outside English."

Tucker and Danny had lockers side by side while Sam's was on the other side of the school. Thankfully, they had most of their classes together thankfully.

Danny gave her a nod before he walked away. Sam sighed. At least he had acknowledged her.

With Sam no longer at his side Danny felt some of the tension ooze out of him. He pushed through the crowd and made his way to his own locker, where Tucker was waiting for him.

"Hey dude!" Tucker's voice was fairly cheery, which was off for first thing in the morning.

Danny grumbled a reply while he opened his locker.

"So I stopped by your house this morning," Tucker told him, "did a ghost attack or something. Because you weren't there."

"I spent the night at Sam's," Danny replied off handily.

Tucker made a half choking sound and when Danny turned he saw that his friend's mouth was hanging open and his eyes bugging out of his skull.

"You _what_!"

"Spent the night at-" he began again, and then realized what Tucker meant, "Tucker! I slept there but I didn't sleep _with _her! I fell asleep when she was patching me up after a fight. Geez Tuck, get your mind out of the gutter!"

"Sorry man, but what did you expect me to think? You two are crazy about each other, so when you say you spent the night with her I had to assume you finally realized it."

"Tucker…" Danny hissed in warning.

"Alright, alright. Did I miss anything last night?"

The question made Danny stop as he once again ran over the events of last night.

_Yeah_, Danny wanted to say, _something happened. For a brief moment I became someone I promised you I'd never be. If it could happen then, what would stop it from happening again? Stop it from being even worse next time?_

"Just Skulker," was what Danny said instead, then decided it was time to change the subject, "why are you in such a good mood anyway?"

Tucker's face broke out into a large, proud and egotistical smile.

"You're looking at the guy who will be taking Valerie out to dinner tomorrow night."

"Did she finally say yes?"

Tucker had been trying for almost a year. You'd think he'd have gotten the hint after all that time, but still he tried. If Valerie had just shot him down it would have been one thing, but it was obvious she liked him. They flirted like crazy and it was only when Tucker tried to make it a little more serious did she back off. Val had her reasons, but it still drove Tucker nuts.

"Persistence man, it always pays off. Patience is a virtue after all."

"She probably just wanted to shut you up."

"Even so, she still said yes."

Danny just raised his eyebrows; leave it to Tucker not to care if his date really wanted to go or not. Sure Danny had been like that once, but he had grown out of it.

"Well I wish the two of you the best of luck," Danny told his friend sincerely, "and maybe try to use this opportunity to convince Val that Danny Phantom is not worth hunting."

By now the two of them had made it to their classroom where Sam was waiting for them. Seeing the non-pained look on Danny's face made Sam smile.

"So you don't look ready to pass out," Tucker commented, "I guess you'll be able to stay awake today."

Danny flinched at the mere idea of sleep. He had been too exhausted to dream last night but wouldn't be tonight. Next time he drifted off the nightmares would begin.

Tucker saw Danny flinch and Sam's face fall, and knew that something was up. When Danny walked past them both without a word he knew it was something big. He opened his mouth to ask Sam but the shrill sound of the bell echoing through the hall cut him off. Sam sent him a look, a look she only wore when something was wrong with Danny, which told the boy she desperately needed to talk to him. The the two of them walked into home room together and took their seats along with the rest of the class.

"Good morning," Lancer told the class, "I have a few announcements before we get back to talking about 'Old Man and the Sea'. First off I feel the need to remind you that you have a test next Friday. Secondly, as you have all probably forgotten by now it's getting close to that time when you all have to fill out applications for post secondary education. To help you with your decisions all seniors must attend a meeting with the school guidance councilor. Since Ms. Jessel is on maternity leave, the task has fallen to me. The signup sheet is on my office door. This _is _mandatory."

Tucker made a face at the thought of talking to Lancer about his future plans. Why did they have to talk to a guidance councilor anyway? He had it all planned; he'd apply to all the top tech schools in the country…and obviously with his mad skills he'd get accepted to them all. His biggest decision would be to decide which school he should grace his presence with.

Easy as pie.

Tucker looked around and saw that his classmates found the idea of Lancer as a guidance councilor as distasteful as he did.

With his announcements done Mr. Lancer went on with his lesson…at which point Tucker began to tune him out. Instead of listening to a boring lecture about an even more boring book he began to plan out his date tomorrow night.

Danny could make fun of him all he wanted, but Tucker knew his persistence would pay off. Had he not known Val liked him he would have given up. But he knew she did, so he kept at it.

He knew Valerie held back because of her ghost hunting. She was still under the impression Technus had attacked Danny to get to her. That was one hurtle Tucker had to get past.

It would have been much easier if he could tell her he had been hunting ghosts longer than her, but giving up that secret could lead to Danny's. No matter how much he liked Valerie, he would never put Danny's secret at risk.

The second hurtle had been one he had put up himself. For the longest time he had thrown himself at any cute girl that had come into his line of sight. He tried his charm and lines on every girl and when they shot him down he shrugged it off and moved on to the next one.

It wasn't a surprise that Valerie hadn't believed Tucker was doing anything more than flirting. At first he had been, but then he really started to like her. Like her in the way that made him not _want_ to flirt with other girls. Sure he still noticed and appreciated them, but he gave them a quick glance and then his focus was back on Val.

The hard part had been convincing Val that he was serious. It had taken the better part of a year to convince her that he was serious, but Valerie finally came to believe he was only interested in her.

It couldn't be anything too fancy, but it wasn't going to be burgers at the Nasty Burger either. There were a few in-between places in Amity Park, so he had a choice. He should probably ask Val where she'd like to go just to make sure she'd enjoy the date. He knew what she liked so he could most likely pick a good place, but he wanted to make sure their first date was perfect.

The bell rang suddenly, making Tucker jump and shatter his train of thought. Everyone was jumping out of their seats and dashing out the door, Danny at the front of the crowd. Sam was still sitting at her desk, looking after Danny with an unreadable expression on her face.

Something was definitely wrong.

Thankfully he and Sam had their next class together while Danny was in another, so the two of them would have some time to talk without him there.

"Come on," Tucker spoke to her when he was standing beside her desk. Sam complied and as they started to walk, Tucker continued, "what happened last night?"

Sam gave him a pained expression and sighed.

"On patrol we had a run in with Skulker. He had a new net that when Danny tried to phase through it electrocuted him."

Tucker was looking at Sam strangely. Why would a new weapon of Skulker's have this type of reaction on Danny? Skulker got upgrades all the time. That made no sense at all.

"He grabbed me…Skulker did," Sam continued softly, "and then dropped me from thirty feet up."

Tucker stopped walking. He knew what was wrong now. He didn't even need to be there to know what Danny's reaction had been.

Whenever anyone threatened his friends or family Danny freaked out. But with Sam…

Sam was Danny's biggest weakness. Attacking her was like asking to die.

"How bad was the damage?" Tucker finally asked.

"He pulverized Skulker's suit; punched a hole through the chest and shattered his shoulder. Then he froze him to a wall with so much ice it probably hasn't even come close to melting yet. He really lost it…and it was scary to see him like that."

"So now he's feeling guilty at what he did," Tucker finished for her.

"And comparing himself to that…" Sam's voice trailed off but Tucker knew who she was talking about.

Tucker knew Danny wouldn't let this go easily. Now he and Danny didn't talk about their feelings much as it was an unmanly thing to do, but they had talked about this. Talked about it a lot because it was something that was always lurking at the back of Danny's mind, and sometimes he just had to get it out. Almost every day, Danny had to try and convince someone that he was the good guy, but this would make him question the surety of that statement.

"I love him so much Tucker," Sam whispered, "I can't bare to see him like this. I can't stand to see him doubt himself this way. Why can't he see that the fact he walked away when he was so pissed off overshadows his ferocity?"

"Because he's Danny Sam," Tucker sighed, "part of what makes him a good hero is the fact he judges himself so harshly. Though he could learn to lighten up a teeny bit."

Sam gave a small bark of harsh laughter at that, boy was that an understatement.

"Give him a few days to sort it all out and he'll be back to normal, maybe even before that," Tucker advised her, "he'll talk to one of us or Jazz and we'll tell him it's okay."

Tucker saw the small smile start on Sam's lips and knew he had done his job. While Danny usually went to Sam with problems, Sam came to him.

Danny didn't know how much Sam hurt when he was hurting. He didn't know just how much she loved him, and how torn she became when she saw him so broken up. Sam would never tell him. Not only would that mean admitting her feelings, but telling him how she hurt for him would only make Danny feel guilty. Then, he wouldn't come to her to talk and he'd keep everything in. That would lead to disaster.

So Tucker helped Danny out by making Sure Sam had someone to talk to and a shoulder to cry on.

Tucker was good at giving some kick-ass advise, if he did say so himself.

"So," Sam said and Tucker heard thechange in her tone, "I hear Val finally said yes."

l.l.l.l

"I don't get it Danny. Everything looks normal."

It was after school and the three of them were at Fenton Works. Tucker was upstairs checking out Danny's computer for any trace of hacking while Sam and Danny were down in the lab testing Danny.

They had been doing it for half an hour, Danny using every power in his arsenal but his ghostly wail. All of them were nearly the same power as the last time they tested him. It was making no sense when you compared the ratings to the power he used against both Valerie and Skulker.

"Sure you're a little stronger," Sam continued, looking down at the device in her hand, "but it's only gradual. Your duplication and disguise powers show a fairly significant increase, but it says your ice powers have barely improved."

"Then it has to be broken," Danny told her lamely, "if nothing else, my ice powers should be explosive. You saw it last night; I made enough ice to make a freaking ice berg."

"This makes no sense. You know you're using more power than you mean to, so what's causing it if it's not a natural progression?"

Danny sighed in frustration; he had been hoping to get some sort of answers about what was going on with him. He had been hoping he'd be able to get some sort of good news today, since the day had so far sucked.

School had drug on and on, especially when he couldn't pay attention even if he tried. Sam and Tucker had attempted to get him to really talk to them but he brushed them off. To make matters worse, Dash decided that it would be a perfect day to make his life a little more miserable.

The complete irony of the whole thing was, Danny had been able to take Dash out for years. He didn't, and continued to let Dash push him around for the same reason he acted like a klutz and wore baggy clothes; so no one would ever connect clumsy and wimpy Danny Fenton with Phantom. Though Dash had backed off quite a bit since Danny had shot up inches above him height wise, but every once and awhile Dash had to remind Danny who was boss. The fact he knew he could wipe the floor with Dash and chose not to was irritating in its own way. He would love to see his tormenter's face if he ever fought back and won, but knew it wouldn't be worth it. The only thing that stopped Danny when Dash had started today was the memory of losing control; Dash wasn't made of metal.

So when he had come home and began using his powers, he hoped Sam could make sense of one of his issues.

"Sorry Danny," Sam apologized.

"Not your fault Sam," Danny sighed, "I'm the one with massed up ghost powers."

"Hey Danny!" Tucker's voice called as he walked down the stairs, "Your computer is clean."

Danny was both relieved and upset by Tucker's news. The good thing was no one was hacking his computer, and thus no one had any reason to connect him to ghosts. Bad thing was that someone possibly had information on ghosts such as Ember.

"Thanks Tuck," he sighed again and turned to Sam, "what time does that concert start?"

Even though he had kept his distance from Sam all day he was not going to back out of the concert. Her parents already had, and he'd be damned before he did that to her.

"Concert?" Tucker asked, "What concert?"

"There's an orchestra playing at Amity U," Sam explained, "and it starts at eight. I have another ticket if you want to come."

"That's alright," Tucker grinned somewhat suggestively, "I wouldn't want to interrupt your date or anything."

"It's not a date!" the two of them replied too quickly.

Tucker just rolled his eyes; some things never change.

"That is quite alright," Tucker spoke again, "I have better things to do than listen to boring music. I just downloaded a new game to kick ass at. Do you need my help with anything else?"

"Nope."

"Well then I'm off."

"And I'll leave with you," Sam said, "I need to get ready anyway," she turned to Danny, "see you in two hours?"

"I'll pick you up," Danny replied.

When they were gone Danny trudged up the stairs and towards his room. He still had to figure out what to wear to his 'date'. He had promised Sam he'd dress up too. He just hoped no ghosts decided to spoil tonight. He wanted Sam to have a good time...hell, maybe a miracle would happen and he'd enjoy it too.

l.l.l.l

An hour and a half later Danny was waiting at the bottom of Sam's stairs and waiting for her to make her grand entrance.

When she finally came Danny felt like his legs were going to give out.

Her dress was blood red and stopped mid thigh, showing off her long, pale legs. It was held up by thin straps and dipped low enough to show a generous amount of cleavage. A pair of red stilettos topped off the outfit and her hair was curled.

"Wow," Danny breathed out, "you really meant it when you said, 'a dash of colour'."

Sam smiled nervously, "Yeah. Dad hates this dress, but Mom convinced him it would help me catch a 'fine potential husband' so they agreed it was a suitable choice."

"Since I'm not your parents," Danny pointed out, "you could have worn any dress you wanted. Including a black one."

"Maybe I'm trying to find a proper potential husband," Sam teased.

"I'll have you know Ms. Manson that _I'm_ your date tonight and I'll not let anyone steal you from me, proper or not," his joking tone masked the very real truth in that, "now, are you ready to leave?" Danny offered her his arm.

"Why Mr. Fenton you are being quite the gentlemen tonight," Sam took his arm with a smile.

"Just trying to impress a beautiful woman," he told her with a wink and a smile.

Sam's cheeks flooded with pink and she looked away.

"I mean it Sam," this time his voice was sincere, "you're beautiful."

He didn't say 'you look beautiful' because that would imply it only applied at the moment. Sam was always beautiful, but there was no way to tell her that without admitting his feelings.

"Thanks Danny, you're not so bad yourself…though your tie is messed up. Hold still."

As Sam fixed his tie Danny had such an urge to kiss her. He wished this was a real date so he could.

"There," Sam announced when she was done, "now let's fly before we're late."

Danny transformed and lifted them both into the air and out of the house. They flew towards the university, invisible the whole time. He wanted to avoid any incident like the one with Val two nights ago. Not to mention he didn't need anyone to catch Danny Phantom flying with a very sexy woman in that hot little red number, let alone if they realized it was Samantha Manson. His head hurt just imagining how much trouble it would cause.

When they arrived Danny changed back, waited for Sam to smooth out her dress and then reoffered his arm. She rolled her eyes this time but took it anyway. With that they walked out of the shadows and towards the entrance.

Sam turned heads as she passed people, most of them belonging to men old enough to be her father. One cold glare from Danny made the leering stop.

Sam noticed the stares and they did make her squirm. It wasn't that she was uncomfortable in her body, because she was, but she just wasn't used to it. If she was going to be noticed, she wanted it to be for something she had accomplished, not how she looked in a dress.

Though she had to admit it was flattering…or it would have been had it not been men twenty years older than her.

She also noticed Danny's glares and they made her smirk. He was probably only doing it because he was an overprotective friend, but it gave her hope. Maybe he really did like her like everyone said…he was acting jealous enough.

Sam leaned into him and rested her head against his arm. Danny looked down at her with wide eyes, but Sam just smiled up at him innocently.

She was feeling flirty. Very flirty.

Danny gulped and tore his gaze away from that smile. She was probably just acting this way to make sure none of the leerers decided to start up any sort of conversation.

Yeah. That was it.

"Tickets please?" the man at the door asked.

Sam pulled two tickets out of her red purse and handed them over. The attendant looked at the tickets, pulled off the stubs and then handed them back to Sam, who shoved them back into her purse.

"Enjoy the concert."

"Thank you," Sam replied as she and Danny walked inside, "Oh Danny, my Nan donates quite a bit to the music department, so whenever any of us attends anything we get a private booth."

"Private? As in just the two of us?"

Sam gave him that innocent smile again, and he realized it drove him crazy in a very good way. Why was she acting like this? Better yet, should he put a stop to it or just sit back and enjoy it?

"Not a problem at all."

"Good," Sam replied, "because we're here."

They entered the booth and Danny felt like he had stepped into a movie. It was no surprise, because Jazz had forced him to sit through Phantom of the Opera a dozen times. Jazz hadn't realized her 'Phantom' jokes had grown old the first time they watched it.

Not two minutes after he sat down the curtains opened and the woodwind section began to play. A moment after, the rest of the orchestra joined them.

Danny of course found nothing special in what he was listening to, but Sam's face lit up when the music started. Instead of paying attention to what he was hearing Danny focused on the content look on Sam's face. She looked happy, which meant sitting through three hours of this would be well worth it.

Sam sighed happily and leaned her head down on Danny's shoulder. He jumped and tensed a bit, wondering if she would move.

Oh screw it. After they left this concert they'd go back to normal and act like this never happened. He was going to enjoy it while it lasted.

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and she snuggled in closer to him.

God she felt so right there…they just fit together.

Sitting there with her, listening to boring music and watching Sam's happy face, Danny felt at ease. He felt happy. It was like nothing could possibly ever go wrong again…

l.l.l.l

Four men stood in front of his desk, looking down at him expectantly. He looked down at the file they had just handed him, entitled 'Ember McLain'. He'd look through it later. Right now he had other things to do.

"Gentlemen here are your next assignments," he gestured to three other paper thin folders at the edge of his desk, "the first team will be looking at one Penelope Spectra. Our information tells us she is a ghost who poses as a guidance councilor to feed on misery. Her last place of employment was at Casper High in Amity Park. Go there and get records of her employment. Investigate from there, the same way you did McLain. Find some concrete proof she is a ghost."

"Yes Sir."

"Look out for this teenage couple," the second file contained a picture of a grungy looking young man on a bike with a young woman behind him, "they are low priority, but if you see them, detain them for questioning."

"Yes Sir."

"And us Sir?"

"You two," was the reply, "have the most important job of all; unearth Danny Phantom."

"But Sir," one of the agents questioned before he could stop himself, "we already know that Phantom is a ghost."

"Yes," was the answer, "but the suspicion is that he, like all the other subjects, has integrated himself into the human world and lives among them. I want to know where he goes when he's not fighting, and if he disguises himself as a human. Find where he's hiding and who he's hiding as."

l..

An- So I hope you enjoyed. If someone can guess where I got the name Ms. Jessel (it is ghost related of course) I'll give you a cyber cookie! And I have a few things to say! So obviously, as a writer, I love reviews. Extremely much so. I love not only hearing any sort of praise, but I love comments that will help me improve my writing. I mean, what point is there in posting a story if no one is going to enjoy it? Anyway, according to my stats page, there have been over a hundred hits for this story (which I am pumped at), but only six reviews (which I love everyone of you and appreciate it!). So I'm asking that if you've gotten far enough to read this, PLEASE review! Lol I'm needy! I'd never presume to demand a certain amount of reviews of course, but I'm not gonna lie when I say they inspire me to write faster.

Secondly, my chapters are going to be coming slower for the next while. I have three essays due on one day and a shit load of reading to do for school. Oh, and a test. So school has finally caught up to me, and school has to come first. Nothing is due for another two weeks so I might get another chapter out by then, but I make no promises! See you guys next time. Peace, Love & Rainbows all!


	5. Chapter 5

An- Hey everyone! So this chapter took a little longer to write than usual; not only did I have a massive amount of homework (two essays and a test in one day…I think the professors are conspiring against me), but when I got all that out of the way and I sat down to write this, I realized that I had NO idea what I was going to write. Lol. Anyway, I finally got something put together, and here it is for your viewing pleasure!

Oh, and I'd like to sincerely thank the three people who added this story to their favourites list! I'm so honoured! Thank you so much!

Now onto the story! Enjoy chapter five!

Chapter Five

When Danny assumed that he and Sam would go back to normal after the concert, he had been right. She had leaned on him with his arm around her the entire concert, when the it was over they had held hands as they walked out and he had held her closer than normal when they flew. When he had deposited her in her bedroom Sam had given him a sincere thank you, a kiss on the cheek and then he had left.

It had been a date in everything but name.

Then, when Danny walked into the school the next day it was like nothing out of the ordinary had happened. Sam gave him her usual smile and 'hey Danny' before turning back to the conversation she was having with Tucker.

Even though he figured it was going to happen Danny's heart sank. Even if he knew it was for the best he felt the hard disappointment. Sam wasn't in as much danger this way, but a part of him had still been hoping…

But it could have been worse. So far, there was no strained awkwardness or painful blushy moments. Those would have just driven him insane.

So he took Sam's lead and went on as though nothing had happened.

"So you didn't die of boredom," Tucker stated when Danny joined them.

"I had a good time," Danny had replied, "an amazing one actually."

It was only way he could let Sam know how much he had enjoyed himself without coming right out and saying it.

For someone who thought Sam would be in too much danger if they dated, Danny was sure subtly trying to get together with her.

A light blush had brushed over Sam's cheeks with a small smile.

Tucker, of course had noticed it all and was obviously _dying _to ask Danny exactly what he meant by 'amazing'. The only thing that stopped him was the fear of Sam's combat boot against his shin. He would have to ask Danny later, when Sam was out of earshot.

Now the three of them were sitting in English, Sam doodling aimlessly, Tucker playing with his PDA and Danny was looking over his bio notes for a test he had the next day. Lancer was getting ready to teach a very indifferent class.

"It seems I have yet another announcement for you," Lancer's voice was dry, like he thought taking time away from English was a waste (though his class would disagree), "it seems the school board and the city have come together to sponsor a new academic contest. As I'm sure you all have realized by now, Amity Park is famous for its ghosts," it was possible that every set of eyes in the room rolled, "and because of that the theme of this contest is ghost. All senior students will be paired up and are to create a presentation on any ghost related topic," there were groans across the classroom, "the presentations will take place at an assembly two weeks from now, where the winner will be chosen by a panel of judges."

A hand shot up "Mr. Lancer? You said it was a contest, so what's the prize?"

"A thousand dollar scholarship to each winner, payable to the post secondary institution of their choice."

A large number of students were suddenly interested in what the teacher had to say. Tucker and Danny were among that category. Sure Jazz had managed to get almost a full scholarship, but there was no way Danny would. Between his parents and student loans, Danny was going to be in debt until he became a full ghost. A thousand dollars wasn't all that much, but if he won it was a thousand dollars he wouldn't have to pay back later.

And come on, a presentation on ghosts? He already that won hands down.

"If this is for scholarships that means we don't actually have to do it right?" Kwan asked.

"You know," Dash commented, his voice full of conceited pride, "for those of us who don't have to pay a cent."

Danny rolled his eyes, and he wasn't the only one. Ever since he had won a full football scholarship Dash had been insufferable. He was more arrogant than usual, especially since he was accepted to a school with one of the best football teams in the country. There was absolutely no justice in the world when a guy who got worse than Danny got a free ride. None at all.

"It's now worth ten percent of your English grade," Lancer replied.

The room was filled with groans again, even from those who enjoyed the possibility of a prize. Making it count towards their final grades was just brutal.

"Do we at least get to pick our own partners?" Star somewhat whined.

"No," Lancer held up a hat, "you'll draw names. And no, you can't trade partners. I don't want to hear any complaints."

Danny sighed at that. If he didn't get Sam or Tuck he'd be more limited. Anyone other than Tucker and Sam might question how he knew so much about ghosts...more than his ghost hunting parents. With either of his friends they'd be able to go over everything and then decide how much information was too much.

Lancer set the hat down on his desk "Ms. Sanchez."

"Oh! I already know what I'm doing! I'm going to be doing my presentation of the Ghost Boy!"

Danny made sure to keep his face neutral. He had seen that one coming, but it didn't make it any less weird. Anyone doing their presentation on him would make him squirm, but God only knew what Paullina would come up with. At least she would focus on the superficial aspects and make no attempts to dig deep. In that moment Danny was very grateful for her shallowness, even as he was creeped out.

Paullina was still gushing about how amazing the Ghost Boy was when she reached into the hat. She pulled out a small slip of paper, looked down at it and made a face.

"Danny Fenton? Eww, that loser!"

Oh good Lord no.

"You've got to be fucking _kidding_ me," Danny cursed under his breath.

He was stuck with Phantom's biggest, most obsessive fan girl, doing a project on himself. What had he done in a past life to deserve this? Why did karma hate him this much?

Beside him Tucker was barely containing his snickers and even Sam had a maliciously amused smirk on her lips. That just irritated him…and he knew exactly how to get that look off her face.

"Well it looks like I'm going to be spending time with Paullina," Danny leaned forward so that Sam could hear him.

The smirk was instantly gone and she bristled. Tucker also heard and this time couldn't stop a bark of laughter from escaping as he watched Sam begin to fume. Danny sat back in the chair and crossed his arms, satisfied that Sam was now as pissy as he was.

"Mr. Foley."

Tucker got up from his seat and moved to the front of the class. He reached into the hat and grinned broadly.

"Sweet! I got Val!"

He shot a look at his partner, who sat near the front of the class with Star, and Valerie smiled at him.

"That's wicked!"

Lucky bastard, Danny thought to himself, Tucker gets his crush and I get stuck with the rabid fan girl.

"You can converse with Ms. Grey after class Mr. Tucker. Take your seat. Ms. Manson."

Danny hoped Sam had better luck than he did. But then again, Sam didn't exactly work well with people she wasn't close to. She would probably be unhappy no matter what name she drew.

Sam got to her feet and repeated the process. When she picked up her paper she didn't say a word and her face stayed blank.

Danny knew right then, Sam was extremely unhappy.

"Dash Baxter," she finally said, her voice monotone.

Danny choked and Dash gave a '_what_!'. Automatically the jock turned to Mr. Lancer, but the teacher just held up his hand for silence.

"No Mr. Baxter. You and Ms. Manson will have to work together. It's one project…you'll both survive."

Dash looked like it was the end of the world while Sam appeared seemingly indifferent as she made her way back to her seat. It wasn't until she turned to Danny did she show how miserable the idea of teaming up with Dash Baxter made her.

"Shoot me now," she groaned.

"Sorry Sam," he replied, "I'd like to keep you around for awhile yet."

She just stuck out her tongue at him and turned to face the front of the classroom again. It took another five minutes, but eventually everyone in the class was paired up. Most of the students were fairly happy with their partners, the glaring exceptions being Danny, Sam, Dash and Paullina.

"Remember, due in two weeks," Lancer reminded them, "and all work will be done outside of class. Now onto English…"

With that Danny turned his attention to the bio notes on his lap. Sam took meticulous notes, so he'd get them from her later. Since his biology mark was worse than his English one, he figured that he should worry about that…until a piece of paper landed on his desk.

_So project on Phantom, how hilarious is_ that?

He knew the note was from Tucker and knew if his friend had been speaking there would have been a snicker in his voice.

_Shut up Tuck. This is _not _even _remotely_ funny! _Danny wrote and tossed the note back.

After a moment the paper was back.

_Actually it is. And it could be worse. With Paullina she'll be gushing about how 'hot' (HA HA) you are. Pf it were Valerie, it'd be all about how evil you are._

Danny winced before he replied.

_So she wasn't forgiven me yet, even though I got her job back?_

_Not so much. On the bright side she doesn't want to shoot you on sight anymore, but she still hates your guts. _

Danny wouldn't exactly call that a bright side, but it was better than nothing.

At least there was practically no chance he'd run into her tonight, not with her and Tucker's date.

Wow, he really felt like Technus at the moment; wanting them to go out so that Val would be distracted. He shuddered at the thought. If he ever began to spurt out long and annoying speeches about how awesome he was, he'd sucked into a Fenton thermos.

His disturbing thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the bell. He began to collect his things, but when he looked up Paullina was standing at his desk, looking irritated.

"Look loser," she started, "we're doing our project on the Ghost Boy. He's the most perfect man in the world, and doing this presentation will show him how much I love him and that we're destined to be together. Got it?"

Danny nodded, knowing that if he tried to speak he'd say something harsh. It was amazing having someone call him 'the most perfect man in the world' could tick him off.

God he was sick of this.

Of course Tucker was laughing his ass off.

"Dude," Tucker couldn't stop his snicker even after Danny's glare landed on him, "she just admitted her love for you and in front of the whole class and yet hardcore dissed you at the same time. You can't help but laugh at the irony in that."

By now all three of them were out in the busy hall.

"Whatever," Danny said dismissively.

Tucker's eyes brows rose.

"What? You're not going to complain about how unfair your life is?"

"Tucker," Danny's voice held a twinge of sarcasm, "Paullina not liking human me is down at the bottom of the list of things that make my life unfair."

They were in the hall now, standing beside the vending machine as Sam bought a pop.

Hearing those words coming out of his mouth made Sam choke on the pop she just bought, nearly sending it back out her mouth.

"Excuse me?" Sam asked as she swallowed, "Did I just hear you correctly?"

"Seriously guys," Danny replied in annoyance as he rolled his eyes, "I'm not a hormonal fourteen year old anymore; Paullina is hot, but she's a bitch. Go figure, I've come to the conclusion that wanting to be with someone who treats you like crap is stupid."

"_YES_!" Sam gave a whoop of joy, causing everyone in the hall to turn and look at them, "He has seen the light!"

"Sam, keep it down," Tucker said, glancing around, "we're considered weird enough without you randomly yelling in the hallway."

But Sam couldn't help but grin in triumph.

"Besides," Danny continued, amused, yet annoyed by Sam's reaction (considering he hadn't drooled over Paullina in what, two years?), "she only likes Phantom right?"

"She'd be perfectly happy with Fenton if she were to find out they were one in the same," Tucker pointed out, earning a kick in the shin courtesy of Sam. Tucker winced, "Hey! I was just pointing it out! Jesus Sam!"

"But that's the point," Danny's voice took on a new edge of seriousness, "she only likes one, and though I wouldn't admit it at the time, the same goes for Valerie; Paullina loves Danny Phantom while thinks Danny Fenton is a loser, while Val cares –but now only as a friend- about Fenton and wants to re-kill Phantom. Neither of those situations appeasl to me anymore. I finally get that I need someone who's fine with both halves…who wants and cares about _all_ of me."

He didn't realize it, but as his speech had worn on Danny had gone from speaking in general to focusing intently on Sam.

Tucker of course noticed it right away and couldn't help himself.

"So Danny," he quipped, "from the way you're staring I'd say you have someone in mind."

Danny blinked, realizing he was staring and quickly looked away. He hoped Sam didn't see the blush that spread over his cheeks, and at the same time Sam prayed Danny hadn't seen hers.

This was just another one of those times where his self conscious was trying to convey his feelings without actually saying anything.

Tucker was still smirking and would have made another comment had Sam's combat boot not connected with his legs again.

"Oww!"

"Anyway," Danny spoke again, knowing it was time to get out of there before Tucker could say anything else, "I gotta get to class…and Tucker, do yourself a favour and drop it before Sam shows you the true extent of her wrath."

"Hey, it's not my fault that you two won't admit you're in love with each other."

"_Tucker_!" they both hissed angrily, and Tucker realized that now not only did Sam want to kill him, but Danny too.

Damn. They both hit hard. But what was Tucker to do? They were never going to get together themselves, and maybe one of these days his remarks would make them see the light.

But at that moment Tucker was more concerned about getting away from his homicidal looking friends. Just as he was about to make a run for it, a blue mist shot out of Danny's mouth. Tucker almost sighed in relief.

Danny muttered a few curses, told his friends to cover for him and then he was rushing away.

_Remind me to thank whatever ghost that was_, Tucker thought as he fished the Fenton thermos out of his bag.

l.l.l.l

"For I am Technus, the master of all things hip and technological!"

"God," Danny muttered, "are you _trying_ to be more annoying than the Box Ghost? Because you're getting there."

Technus looked genuinely offended by his statement and Danny couldn't help but smirk.

They were in the computer lab, where Technus was trying to take control of the new, apparently state of the art laptops that the school recently bought.

_These ghosts must seriously enjoy getting their asses handed to them_, Danny mused to himself, _otherwise why else would they come to my school of all places? That's just asking for it._

"You dare compare me to that idioit ghost!" Technus cried in anger, "I am Technus the-"

"Master of blah, blah, blah, blah," Danny cut him off, "you seriously need to cut down on the title."

Danny formed an ecto-blast around his hand and then shot it at the other ghost. Unlike his last two fights the concentration of power stayed exactly the way he wanted. There was no unexpected burst of power, only a simple blast that caught Technus in the chest and sent him backwards into a wall.

"Thermos please," he called down to his friends, who were standing near the door.

Tucker tossed the device up to him and he caught it easily. He twisted the cover off, pointed it at Technus and in the ghost went, still screaming about how he was the master of technology and he would be back.

Danny landed back on the ground, transformed back into his human self and turned back to his friends.

"And look," Danny spoke, "no property damage this time."

"Which is good," Tucker said with a grin, "because these laptops are _sweet!_ I can't wait for third period so I can get my hands on one of these babies!"

Sam wasn't saying anything, and Danny turned his attention to her. She was looking at him with an odd look on her face (half of it was worry and half concern).

He looked down at himself, assuming he had been injured without him noticing. But there were no wounds, not even forming bruises.

"Sam?" he asked, unsure of what was wrong.

"There was no excess power," Sam started, "none."

"Umm Sam," Tucker said, "isn't that a good thing?"

Danny was thinking the same thing actually.

"No," Sam replied, shaking her head, "the past two fights your power has been more intense. So why those two times and not now? What was the difference? Danny, if you only have power increases occasionally how can you learn to control it?"

Danny's heart sank; he hadn't thought of it that way. That could prove to be very problematic, not to mention dangerous.

"Well this time no one was threatening you," Tucker pointed out, looking at Sam.

"But the first time Sam wasn't even there," Danny replied, "it was just Valerie and I."

Suddenly increasing powers was an issue by itself, and this made it worse.

"Maybe everything will go back to normal?" Tucker suggested.

"Maybe…" Sam chewed on her lower lip, still looking worried, "…the only way we'll know for sure is to see what happens when you get into your next fight."

"Which I hope to avoid for awhile," Danny's reply was dry.

Sam grimaced "I didn't mean it that way."

"I know. But come on, we're already fifteen minutes late for class."

"Ten bucks says that at least one, if not all of us will get detention," Tucker said.

"No game," Danny replied, "that's a sucker's bet if I've ever heard one."

"By the way Danny," Sam mentioned, "I heard a few of the teachers talking and apparently you have the all time record for amount of detentions."

"Won't Mom be proud," was Danny's dry comment.

Tucker snickered a little, earning another death glare. The three of them parted, Danny going in one direction with Sam and Tucker heading in the other.

When he opened the door and slipped into the classroom, Danny's biology teacher paused in her lecture and looked at him.

"What's the excuse this time Mr. Fenton?"

"Same as always," was Danny's blunt reply.

"Well then the punishment is the same as always."

Danny sighed; detention it was. Sometimes he really hated it when Tucker was right. Oh well, at least there he'd be able to get some more studying done.

"Now if you'd take your seat," Mrs. Grosse gestured to the seat Danny usually occupied, "we'll continue with our review."

Danny did as he was told and made sure to pay full attention to what the teacher was saying. He _needed_ to pass this test, preferably with a rather high mark.

Danny jotted down notes, taking extreme care to what the teacher pointed out to be important. Thankfully he knew most what was being said. As long as the ghosts stayed away and he could get some studying in, he'd have all the information down for tomorrow.

He somehow managed to pay attention for the entire class (well, the part he was actually there for), and by the time the bell rang, Danny was at least semi- confident.

"See you after school," Danny told the teacher as he walked past her and out of the classroom.

Danny moved through the hallway, twisting and turning his body to avoid running or bumping into people as he headed towards the gym.

Shockingly enough Danny had chosen gym as an elective even when he didn't need to. There were a number of reasons. One, the only other class he could have taken was Computer Sciences, which was never going to happen. Two, it was a way to work out his body in human form, even if he still had to pretend to be the biggest klutz around. And finally, reason number three was that Sam was in the class…and Sam looked damn hot in her gym outfit.

He slipped into the locker room as the others were leaving, just as he always did. The last thing he needed was anyone seeing him changing. Especially since Dash was in the class, because if he found out about the build and scars, it would take maybe an hour before everyone and their dog knew.

He quickly changed into his gym clothes, which consisted of a long pair of grey shorts and a white t-shirt. He looked down at the scars on his arms and thought of the one that ran the length of his left calf. He concentrated for a moment, picturing the scars not being there. Five seconds later the scars were gone, leaving the skin on his arms and leg unblemished.

The power to disguise his appearance had developed nine months ago. The ability wasn't one that had come easily; getting control of it was a repeat of duplication. It had taken awhile for him to get down even the simplest of disguises, but now he was able to cover the small scars with only a small amount of concentration, but only for a limited amount of time. He could keep the disguise up for the hour long gym class, but after that it would get harder. He could only manage a full blown disguise for maybe ten seconds, but that left him drained, feeling nauseous and with a killer migraine.

So he was taking it slow with that particular power. For once.

Danny stepped out of the locker room and into the gym. He spotted Sam at the other end of the large room and made his way to her. She held a basketball in her hands, and the look on her face told Danny she was waiting for him.

"Hey Sam!" he called out, grabbing his friend's attention.

Sam turned to him and Danny was reminded once again of the reason he took gym. She wore a simple pair of black sweatpants, yet they managed to cling enough to show off her shapely legs. Her top was nothing but a glorified sports bra, and her hair was up in a full, bouncy pony tail.

Every gym class he thanked God for the lack of dress code at Casper High.

"So you get detention?" Sam asked when he reached her, tossing the basketball in his direction.

Danny caught it effortlessly "Of course. You?"

"Yes," Sam replied, "but I'm doing it tomorrow since I work right after school. Tucker had decided that detention today was the end of the world because it takes valuable time away from getting ready for his date."

Danny laughed at the sarcasm in the girl's voice as she rolled her eyes.

"We have a free class by the way," Sam informed him.

"So we're playing basketball?" Danny asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I just like trouncing you at one-on-one."

"Oh Sam," Danny smirked, "you just keep telling yourself that."

"Bring it Ghost Boy."

Danny opened his mouth to accept her challenge when he was roughly pushed to the side. He managed to catch his footing and turned to glare. Dash was standing there in front of Sam, the two of them engaged in what appeared to be a glaring contest.

"Look Manson," Dash began, "this whole contest thing is stupid but-"

"You need the ten percent because your scholarship disappears if you fail English," Sam finished with a smirk, crossing her arms over her chest.

Dash glared at her even harsher "Right. But I have practice that I need to attend to keep me on the top of my game-"

"Here's the deal Dash," Sam cut him off again, her tone all business, "I don't want to work with you and you don't want to work with me. So here's what we're going to do, you run along and play football and I'll do the work. All you have to do is show up at the presentation and read the words I hand to you. That means you don't question the subject I pick and where I go with it…you have no say whatsoever. Got it?"

Dash looked rather stunned at Sam's declaration; He probably come here expecting a fight. He shook it off a moment later and grinned in a self satisfied manner.

"We have a deal," Dash smirked, "and if we win I'll even let you have my scholarship money since I don't need it."

Sam just quirked an eyebrow, but didn't say a word. Danny burst out laughing, unable to stop himself. Oh the irony of Dash half bribing Sam with money.

Dash left a moment later and Sam finally spoke.

"I wonder what he'd say if I told him, come next month I could personally buy this school…five times over."

Come Sam's eighteenth birthday, which took place at the end of next month, she'd receive the first half of her inheritance plus access to the trust fun her Grandmother had started for her when she was born. The second half would come with her twenty-first birthday.

Sam refused to own up to the exact amount, but Danny knew it was a very large sum.

"So why'd you let him off the hook?" Danny asked, as surprised as Dash had been, "you usually go on about work load having to be equal and all that."

"I'll gladly do everything myself as long as I don't have to be around Dash," Sam made a face, to which Danny laughed, "now I do remember something about a game of one-on-one."

"Let's go Sammy…do your worst."

l.l.l.l

Valerie sat across from Tucker, alternating between looking at her menu to looking at her date.

They had decided on a Chinese place not far from Tucker's. It was a perfect first date location; not too laid back but far from fancy. It was comfortable.

Valerie hoped he didn't realize she had dressed up a bit more than normal, she had gotten her hair cut to her around her ears on her hairdresser's recommendation. She had on a new pair of orange capris with flats to match and a yellow peasant blouse that went down to her hips. A brown jacket was thrown over her shoulders to keep her warm against the cool October night air.

Even as she had been getting dressed Val had been telling herself she was being foolish. This was a casual date, nothing more. Probably just a onetime thing to prove to Tucker that them as a real couple just wasn't a good idea.

She couldn't let it be a good idea. She led a dangerous life and it would be unfair to bring someone else into it…no matter how much she liked them. Look what had happened with Danny. That was the last time she tried to date anyone.

So why exactly was she dressing up now? Wasn't the whole point of this 'date' to show Tucker they shouldn't be together?

"So Val," Tucker spoke up, "What do you think we should do for our presentation?"

A small smile crept across her lips. The instant Lancer had announced this thing Val had known what she wanted to do. Having Tucker as a partner brought her one step closer to actually doing it because he wouldn't be very hard to convince him.

"I was thinking," she started, her voice off handed, "since you're all into technology, we could do something that has to do with ghost tech. Like weapons."

If there was one ghost related topic she knew better than the back of her hand , it was weaponry. Explaining how she knew so much of it might prove to be tricky, but she could handle it easily enough. Not to mention having a techno geek on her side would prove to be very helpful. She knew how these things worked in action, and Tucker could explain the 'hows' and 'whys' of them.

Val _needed_ this thousand dollars. Sure her father had gotten his job back a year and a half ago and was making good money, but it wasn't nearly enough. Even with the money she had been saving up from her job she'd still have so much debt it made her head spin.

"Weapons huh?" Tucker's eyes held a spark of amusement.

"Yeah," Val couldn't help but blush at the look for some reason she didn't understand, "I don't know that much about them," boy wasn't that one of the biggest lies she had ever told, "but whenever I see the Fentons in action I think their equipment is really cool. Besides, it's technology, and that is your thing."

"That it is."

Tucker was still looking at her in amusement, and Valerie was still quite confused about it.

Was her being interested in weapons really _that_ shocking?

"What?" she asked finally, a little self conscious.

What exactly was she missing here?

"Oh nothing," was Tucker's casual reply, "just thinking how much we're going to rock this project. I mean, you might not know much about ghost hunting tech, but I'm _sure_ you're a quick learner."

Tucker for his part was doing his best not to laugh.

_Oh Val_, he thought as a waiter approached their table, _you'd probably have a heart attack if you knew how much I knew about your expertise on ghost hunting weapons. And I know for a fact that you would have one if you were to find out where I get all my information from_.

This was going to prove to be a _very_ interesting project after all.

l..

An- For all of you who have not yet made it to university, let me tell you now that those two mentions of massive debt are TRUE! I'm only in my first year and already I'm in debt up to my eyeballs. Consider yourself warned. Lol.

Anyway, I hoped you enjoyed this chapter, and don't forget to leave me a review! I appreciate every single one of them! Peace, Love & Rainbows!


	6. Chapter 6

An- Hey y'all! So considering it's the fact it's Spring Break (or as they call out here in Alberta 'Reading Week') and I am poor, I get to sit at home all week…which gives me a whole bunch of time to write (though I should be studying)! That is why this chapter came out so fast! As usual I'd like to thank all the people who read/reviewed last chapter, and hope you enjoy this one!

Chapter Six

With Halloween two weeks away, it was the talk of the cafeteria that Friday afternoon. Plans were being made and discussed and costumes decided upon.

As far as Danny could tell from the snippets of conversation he could hear, at least half of the school would be attending the Party in the Park.

Which reminded Danny that he still had to ask Tucker if he wanted to go with him and Sam.

Though at the moment it was only Danny and Sam sitting at their usual table as Tucker had yet to arrive. Danny had a sneaking suspicion Tucker had gone out of his way to ambush Val outside her classroom.

According to Tucker their date had gone very well. Danny was going to ask conformation from Valerie later.

"So have you decided on a costume yet?" Sam asked, picking up on the topic everyone was talking about.

"My mind has been elsewhere," Danny replied, "I honestly forgot about it. You?"

"Nope. I still can't believe costumes are mandatory for this thing."

"Where is the issue?" Danny truly wanted to know the answer to this one, "As much as I love your wardrobe, most of it could pass as a Halloween costume. You're the queen of all things dark and spooky remember? Hell, even Ember called you the Bride of Dracula."

"Bride of Dracula?" Sam asked with a laugh, "That's a new one. And if I wear the same things as always then it's not a costume now is it?"

She did have a point there.

"Now if you were to go Goth…"

"Sam," he stated point blank, "there's no way in hell I'm letting you put eyeliner on me."

"You're no fun."

"If you're so desperate," Danny told her with a smirk, "you could always wear one of those pink dressed you have shoved in the back of your closet."

Sam made a face and Danny knew she would never be that desperate. Ever.

At that moment voices from the A-list table rose above the noise.

"I'm wearing one of those adorable French maid outfits," Paullina's voice was louder than it needed to be, drawing all attention to her, "Mi Papa had one especially ordered from Europe!"

Sam rolled her eyes and made a sound of disgust. Leave it to Paullina to announce it to the world so she could get the boys drooling in anticipation. And from the looks on their faces, they were doing just that.

Though Sam was glad to notice that Danny's face lacked that look. He looked rather amused, but in a more sarcastic way than anything.

"Now isn't she the queen of subtly," his voice held the same amused sarcasm as his face.

Wow. He hadn't been joking when he said he was over Paullina. Thank God.

"Oh yeah," Dash bragged loudly as Paullina fell silent, "I'm going as Danny Phantom!"

To say Sam and Danny looked horrified would be an understatement.

"I think I'm going to gag," Sam moaned with a shudder, "God, it's like Nocturne's dream all over again."

Danny paused when he digested what Sam said, and when he spoke his voice was soft and low.

"I thought you never remembered that dream."

Sam looked as though she had become a deer caught in headlights.

"I…haven't," she stammered out, "but I do remember that part. I mean, who could forget _that_ image?"

She shuddered once again.

"Hey guys!" Tucker's voice broke out.

Both Sam and Danny looked up to see Tucker walking towards them, tray in his hands and Valerie at his side.

"I can sit here right?" the other girl asked when they reached the table.

"Sure thing," Danny answered with a smile, gesturing for the two of them to sit down.

They did just that and then Tucker noticed the semi-horrified look still on Sam's face.

"Dude, what's wrong?"

"Dash is going as Danny Phantom for Halloween," Danny offered the explanation.

As this news Tucker burst out laughing while Valerie scowled.

"Why the hell would Dash want to go as that creep?"

Danny barely contained his wince as Tucker and Sam cast a glance at him and then each other.

This was why Sam was still so weary of Valerie.

"Oh I don't know Val," Sam spoke up, making sure her voice was casual, "he's not that bad. Phantom I mean."

"You've got to be kidding me," Val looked at Sam, "not you too."

"Hey," Sam replied with a shrug of her shoulders, "it's hard to hate a guy who's saved your life on numerous occasions."

"God, please tell me you're not another one of those fan girls."

Sam couldn't help the small blush that tinted her pale cheeks.

"Well I am a fan," Sam replied, her voice holding some awkward embarrassment, "but I'm far from the type of fan Paullina is. Not that, you know…I mean not that he isn't…Umm…"

Sam let her voice trail off, knowing she was babbling and sounding like she was a complete idiot. She kept her focus away from Danny but could see from the corner of her eye that his face was even redder than hers.

"What Sam's trying to say," Tucker spoke up with a smirk, "is that she thinks Phantom is smoking hot but isn't the type to build a shrine."

Sam's mouth fell open as she attempted to find words to refute Tucker's claim. For once she couldn't think of any. She went to kick him but Tucker anticipated this action and had moved his legs out of range. She cast a glance over at Danny and saw that a tomato would be less red than his face right now. But wait a minute, was that a satisfied smirk forming his lips?

Sam was going to _kill _Tucker. Then if he came back as a ghost she was going to kill him again.

Valerie was looking at her as though she was insane, but didn't say a word. She knew that getting into a verbal match with Sam always ended in a draw. Not to mention getting into a fight with one of Tucker's best friends was not a good thing.

"And as for the horror on my face," Sam finally replied, her voice somewhat back to normal, "It's because the last thing I need to see is Dash Baxter in spandex."

Sam shuddered again.

"Speaking of costumes," Danny finally managed to regain the ability to speak, "in order to get out of helping Dad out in the lab on Halloween I said we were going to the Party in the Park. So you guys want to come?"

"I have no other plans," Tucker replied, "so I guess I can come."

"I'm invited too?" Val asked for clarification.

"Of course," Danny replied, "I figured by now you'd have realized you're welcome with us."

_With the exception of when we're doing something ghost related_, Sam thought to herself.

Despite her thought Sam did nod, agreeing with Danny.

She really did like Valerie, and it was nice to have another girl around sometimes. Especially when said girl could keep Tucker from being more annoying than usual. If only Val would only give up trying to kill Danny, then Sam thought she could truly be friends with the girl.

"Then I'm in," was Val's answer, "though now I gotta find a costume…"

Val's words trailed off, and Sam knew the thought of price was running through the girl's mind. It wasn't pity that made Sam say something, she figured Val would kill her if did.

"You're welcome to come over and raid my closet," Sam volunteered, "as Danny's pointed out, my wardrobe is one big costume shop anyway. I know that we're different sizes, but if you could make it work than you can borrow it."

All three of them were looking at her in shock.

Sam understood the shock but was a tad annoyed by it, especially from the guys. For the past year she had been attempting to make peace with her parents, and she got along with Val better than them. Why was her making an effort more shocking?

Besides, if Tucker and Valerie were actually going to start dating (which for Tucker's sake she hoped they did) then Val would be around a lot more. It only made sense that Sam try to be on the best of terms with her.

So Sam was making an effort…why was that so surprising?

"Thanks Sam," Val finally replied, genuinely touched by the girl's offer, "I'll take you up on that."

"Just tell me when."

Danny looked between the two girls, unable to believe what he was seeing. Sure Sam was usually tolerant bordering on nice to Valerie most of the time, but here she was being just plain friendly.

It wasn't that Sam wasn't a nice person in general, but still…

Danny smiled when he caught Sam's eye and she blushed a little. Tucker was still in shock when Sam and Valerie launched into a discussion about their Law class, which they had together next period.

"This essay is going to be brutal," Valerie was saying.

"Of course," Sam replied, "Mr. Carter always marks hard. Though I think I found a way to combine that and my English presentation. I can do both on ecto-laws. That way I only have to do research on one topic. Plus we did a huge section on it in class so I already have a bunch of information on it."

"That's a good idea," Val sounded impressed, "Tucker and I are doing ghost hunting weapons."

Now that was funny.

"Are you?" Sam's eyebrows lifted, "Cool subject," and a grin spread across her face, "and we all know what Danny's doing."

All three of them, even Val, snickered.

Danny let his head fall down to rest of the table, holding back the desire to keep banging it against it.

"Please don't remind me," he groaned, "she's decided we're getting together at the library tomorrow to work on it."

"Paullina actually knows where the library is?" Sam couldn't help but ask.

"I'm absolutely terrified of what she'll do. I mean, I may be a Phantom supporter, but the last thing I want to do is stand beside Paullina as she gushes about him," he smirked a little, "no matter how smoking hot Sam thinks he is."

Sam hit him in the arm, glaring at him through her blush.

"Jerk!"

"I don't hear you denying it Sammy," Danny replied with a cheeky grin.

"Don't call me Sammy!" she growled.

"Still not denying it," Danny continued to tease.

Sam muttered something about conceited Halfas and set her glare on Tucker, who of course was laughing.

Valerie watched the exchange in confusion; why was Danny joking about that? Normally he would go ballistic at the idea of Sam taking interest in someone else. So why was he teasing her so light heartedly, like it didn't bother him at all?

And why _wasn't_ Sam denying it? Everyone knew she liked Danny, so sheshould be assuring Danny that she didn't like someone else. And what was with the blushy moment? Usually those were reserved for when someone was teasing her about Danny.

Valerie had so missed something. Just as she was about to question the bell rang, singling it was time to head back to class.

The four of them rose from their table, picking up their trays as they moved towards the doors.

"I have to go to that stupid meeting with Lancer about university," Danny informed them, "so I'll see you guys in math."

"I'll actually take good notes for you," Tucker, who shared next period History with him, told him as they parted ways.

Danny walked down the hall until he stood in front of Mr. Lancer's office door.

Good Lord he didn't want to do this.

Thinking about his future was something he tended to avoid doing. He wasn't sure how much future he had left.

How many close calls had he had? How many times had he come out of a battle half dead, no pun intended? After three years of ghost hunting he was lucky to be alive. He knew someday his luck would run out. Every time he looked in the mirror he saw proof. The scars that covered his body threw this fact in his face. Ghosts had given him many injuries over the years, a lot of them bad. The gash across his stomach that had almost disemboweled him…the scar that was hidden in his hair that had damn near cracked his skull open…dart marts on his chest that had pumped poison into his heart…claw marks that had nicked a major artery in his leg. And those were only a few.

Out of all of his issues he had this was the only one he had never talked about. Hell, he never even admitted it out loud. How could he talk to his friends or sister about the fact he was so sure he was going to die sooner rather than later? They all worried about him enough as it was, he wasn't going to add this to it. Of course, he could think of that one future he had seen where he managed to make it to twenty-four. Though God knows he'd rather die young than let that future come to pass.

Danny was relatively sure that, in the end, the future wouldn't hold a happy ending for him. Maybe for a little while, but not in the long run.

Danny took a deep breath, raised his hand and knocked on the door. When he heard Lancer's voice call out a 'come in' Danny turned the knob and walked into the cramped yet meticulously neat office.

Lancer was sitting at his desk with a stack of files on his desk. When Danny looked, he saw a file with his name on it on top.

"Ah, Mr. Fenton," Lancer said as he entered, "right on time. I am impressed."

There was no sarcasm in the teacher's voice.

"No emergencies on the way here," Danny replied with a small chuckle.

Lancer had no idea how true that was.

Danny took a seat as Lancer opened the file.

"So Mr. Fenton," Lancer looked up from the file, "it seems that unless disaster strikes, you have the grades to graduate."

Thank God, Danny almost said out loud.

If he had to spend another year at Casper High he'd shoot himself.

"Now Mr. Fenton, let's talk about your future," Danny cringed, reminded of Lancer's CAT speech, "if I remember correctly you've always been interested in the space program."

"No," Danny interrupted him, "I mean, I was, but not anymore."

God was that ever a lie. There were only a few things he wanted more than to be an astronaut.

This was another reason he didn't like to think about the future.

Lancer was looking at him in ill-concealed shock, and it made Danny cringe.

"May I inquire as to why?" the teacher finally asked after a moment of silence.

Now what could Danny say to that?

_Well you see Mr. Lancer, I'm secretly Danny Phantom and I'm kind of a superhero around here. Turns out superheroes just can't pack up and head down to Florida. Otherwise their current place of residence will be vulnerable. God knows Amity Park will be overrun, and I don't even want to think about the trouble Vlad will cause if I'm floating in space. So it looks like I'm staying here…whether I like it or not_.

"I guess I don't like space anymore," Danny apparently shrugged it off, "and it's not like I have the grades to get in anyway."

He couldn't let Lancer see how much it hurt. But God did it ever. He'd known for awhile but up until now he had put off actually admitting it out loud. If he didn't acknowledge it then it wasn't real…

"I don't believe you."

Lancer's blunt statement threw Danny off.

"What?"

"I don't believe you," Lancer repeated, "I don't know if you remember this, but back when you were in fourth grade I think it was, I substituted for your science class. The class was covering space. While all the other students looked bored out of their mind you paid rapt attention. You could name every planet, constellation and facts on them all. I do believe I even heard you tell Miss Manson you promised to buy a star and name it 'Sammy' for her."

Danny looked at his teacher in amazement; Lancer remembered that? Hell, Danny barely remembered that. And that reminded him that he still owed Sam a star.

"When they decided Pluto was no longer a planet," Lancer continued, "you talked about it so much that Mr. Foley threatened to sick Miss Manson on you," he chuckled at the memory, "now do you understand why I don't believe you when you say you're no longer interested in space?"

Why was Lancer making this harder than it already was? Danny knew he had to give up his dream, and someone attempting to convince him otherwise was only making it worse.

"Mr. Fenton," Mr. Lancer started again as Danny remained silent, "Danny. You're not a bad studen. When you put your mind to it you make grades as high as your sister. Yes you have had discipline problems, but with the exception of one or two instances of vandalism, they are all minor. You're a good kid, but there's something in your life that causes you problems.

"I don't think its drugs or anything of the sort, but whatever it is, it's been plaguing you since freshmen year. And now it's affecting the choices you're making in concerns to your future."

Danny sucked in a deep breath, knowing what Lancer was going to say next.

"What is it Danny? You can tell me and you can trust me. If you want to keep it between us then I will. No matter what you tell me."

He wanted to tell, he really did. Never in a million years would he have assumed there would be a time when he would want to spill his greatest secret to Mr. Lancer, but here he was. But damnit, Lancer was sitting there looking so freaking _sincere_ of all things. He actually wanted to help.

"Thanks Mr. Lancer…I really appreciate it," Danny finally replied, "I really do. But I'm fine okay? I've just decided the best thing for me to do is to apply to Amity U."

Lancer looked disappointed, but slowly nodded his head "Very well Mr. Fenton. I'll be sure to make sure you get an application to Amity U. Unless you have anything else you want to add, you may go back to class."

"Thanks Mr. Lancer," Danny replied as he got to his feet.

There was a knock at the door as Danny reached it, and when he opened it there were a man and a woman standing there, both in very uncomfortable looking black suits.

"Mr. Edward Lancer?" the woman asked.

"Yes," he replied, "and I'm assuming that you're from the school board," when she nodded Lancer turned back to Danny again, "have a good day Danny, and my offer still stands."

Danny nodded and walked out of the room. He was about to continue on his way, when his sensitive hearing caught the words of one of the visitors.

"We're here looking for information on Penelope Spectra."

Danny stopped mid-stride and whirled around just as the door to the office clicked shut. He stared at it for a moment as he processed what he had just heard.

_What the hell? Spectra? Why was someone here asking questions about her…only days after someone had apparently been asking questions about Ember._

Was there a connection? Both were ghosts who posed as humans, and as far as most of the world knew, _were _humans.

Related or not, Danny needed to get in there and hear what was going on.

He turned and then phased into the room, keeping himself invisible and hoping that none of them noticed the temperature drop.

"I don't know what to tell you," Lancer was saying, "Ms. Spectra was only employed here for a short time before she abruptly left."

"We are aware of that," the woman replied smoothly, "all we're asking is for any records concerning her."

"And the names of any students or faculty members that have information regarding her," the man added.

"The only person I can think of is a former student," Lancer replied after a moment of consideration, "Jasmine Fenton spent some time with Ms. Spectra. She's graduated now and off to university."

Danny's breath caught in his throat.

Shit. The last thing any of them needed was Jazz being questioned about Spectra, whether or not this had anything to do with her ghostly status.

Though Danny was left wondering why questions were being asked period.

Apparently Lancer read his mind, because five seconds later he voiced that question.

"Why are you investigating her?"

"There have been allegations of abuse at pervious schools. We're attempting to track her down, and this is her last known place of employment."

Danny knew they were lying.

Spectra wasn't an idiot. If there was someone who could charge abuse then she wouldn't leave said person alive to potentially screw up her plans. She'd have Bertrand finish them off before they could make trouble. Spectra was one of the ghosts who had no problem killing, or getting someone to kill for her.

So why were these people really here?

This type of poking around was like what Ember had described. Were they connected? What were the chances they weren't?

Danny's head felt like it was going to explode. All these problems seemed to be happening and pilling up at once. Danny needed to clear his head. His mental state was messed up enough from his conversation with Lancer, let alone adding this to it.

Screw school. He needed to fly for awhile.

l.l.l

_Hey Jazz,_

_So Dad tells me you're coming down on Halloween weekend. He apparently thinks you're coming down to help with tours, but I know better. You just need to get your dose of trying to dissect Danny's brain. _

_Oh, and speaking of tours, Mom and Dad decided they'll open up the lab up for Halloween so everyone can check out the portal. I know it'll turn out to be a disaster, but no one listens to me. Maybe if you tell them how bad an idea it is they'll listen._

_Today someone was poking around school asking about Spectra, and a few days ago Ember came to me and told me people were asking questions about her human self. I think something's up and it's probably bad. Your name came up with Spectra so it's possible someone might contact you. I figured you could use a heads up._

_There's a few other things I'd like to talk about, but I'll wait until you get here._

_See you soon,_

_Danny_

Jazz Fenton read Danny's email over twice.

By the second time, Jazz knew she needed to see her brother.

The bit of information he had given her about Ember and Spectra was disconcerting, but it was the second to last line that worried her.

It was Danny speak for 'something's really bothering me but I have enough trouble talking about it let alone writing it out and waiting for your reply'. If it wasn't a big deal to him, then Danny wouldn't have mentioned it.

With a sigh Jazz closed her laptop and began to scribble down a note to her roommate.

She was heading down to Amity Park for the weekend.

l..

An- Yeah, yeah…I'm totally a Lancer fan. That man is SO under appreciated!

So I think the next chapter will be out fairly quick, but don't hold me to it (midterms start right after my break is over, and I should probably start studying that). Anyway, thanks for reading and don't forget to review! Peace, Love & Rainbows!


	7. Chapter 7

An- Hey hey everyone! How is everyone doing? So I had planned on putting this up a few days ago, but Fanfiction was being stupid. Then I went and added more to this, so that's why it's a few days later. Anyway, here's the chapter for your viewing pleasure and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter Seven

Danny was sitting at the table, his head resting in his hands as he listened to the sounds of the crowd around him. He was in the Nasty Burger, this being the first place he could think of when he made his hasty retreat from his house.

He had just gotten out of the shower and was throwing on his pyjamas; he had no plans to go back out as Fenton, and when he patrolled he'd be in his jumpsuit. Danny had just thrown on a muscle shirt on when his mother had walked into his room without knocking, basket full of laundry in her arms.

He had frozen on the spot, not even having the sense to go invisible before she noticed him there.

"Oh Danny, I thought you were still…" Maddie's voice began as cheery but trailed off when she really looked at her son.

Or more specifically his right arm, which was covered in criss crossed scars that ran from his wrist up to his bicep.

Her eyes widened as she stared, and the shock actually made her drop the basket. Danny winced at the bang it made and made sure to look anywhere but his mother's eyes.

"Danny, what on Earth…" Maddie gasped out, reaching out to touch her son's arm, "where did you get these!"

It was the feel of his mother's fingertips on one of his scars that jolted him back to reality. He jumped back and away from her as though her touch burned, his mind frantically trying to think up an excuse to explain away his scars.

"Umm…accident?" he put out lamely.

He actually winced at the disbelieving look his mother gave him.

"Danny-" she started in a forceful voice, but Danny cut her off.

"I have to go!" he almost shouted in desperation as he roughly pushed passed her.

He grabbed a sweater on the way out, shoving it over his head as he bounded down the stairs. He rushed out the door and kept moving, practically running, and didn't stop until he was two blocks away.

Shit. Damn. Fuck.

How the hell was he going to explain this to his mother? Anything he came up with she'd never believe.

The only saving grace was that he had at least had a shirt on. The scars on his arms were bad enough, let alone the rest of his upper body. Especially when his mother had been cause a few of them.

Though God knows the moment he got home Maddie would probably make him strip down to inspect the rest of his body.

His head hurt just thinking about how that would turn out.

Now here he sat at the Nasty Burger, trying to figure out how he was going to handle this.

"You really look like you need this."

Danny looked up from his hands to see Sam standing above him, holding a strawberry milkshake out to him.

Danny took the milkshake from Sam as the girl slid into the booth across from him.

"Believe me," Danny replied, his voice close to a moan, "I need something stronger than this."

"I thought we learned our lesson," Sam replied with a quirked eyebrow, "alcohol and ghost powers don't mix."

Danny winced at the memory; somehow the three of them had been invited to Star's last birthday (Danny figured that Star had invited them so that Valerie would have someone she could really talk to when she couldn't stand being around Paulina- the two of them had been fighting. Danny hadn't been aware that Star could even be that considerate, or that she actually cared about Val that much). Of course there had been booze, and of course he had had a few drinks.

It wasn't that he'd never drank before that night (he'd had a few beers on different occasions), but he's never been drunk…

And he was damn lucky he hadn't given away his secret; the more he drank, the more he lost control of his powers. From what he remembered (which was actually very little) it was a miracle that no one had figured out his secret (though, everyone else had been just as tanked, so maybe it wasn't all that much of a surprise). He had kept phasing through things like he was an amateur.

Then of course the more he drank the more ghostly his personality had become; he had begun to feel the obsession that's hard wired in all ghosts. He had become possessive, clingy and jealous…all in regards to Sam.

That was the night (even if he couldn't remember most of it) that Danny had become aware that not only did he have an obsession like all other ghosts, but that his was one of his best friends.

Not to mention the hangover was brutal.

"I could use some anyway," Danny replied dryly, taking a sip of his milkshake.

"What happened?" Sam asked, knowing from the tone of his voice that this was serious.

"Mom barged into my room without knocking and caught sight of my arm," he nodded towards it, "and rightfully freaked."

"How did you explain it?" Sam asked.

"Umm…" Danny rubbed the back of his neck, "I didn't. I kind of ran."

"Danny! You realize that you made it worse by running!"

"What was I supposed to do?" Danny snapped, "tell me a way to explain those scars. Better yet, tell me a way to explain why there are so damn many of them."

Sam winced at his harsh words, and Danny regretted them. It wasn't her fault.

"Sorry Sam," he told her, "and thanks for the milkshake."

"When I walked in and noticed you sitting with that 'this is a disaster' look on your face, I knew you'd need your comfort food."

The corner of his lips turned up slightly "What brings you here anyway?"

He was deliberately veering off topic, trying to avoid thinking about the mess he was in.

"Just got off work," she replied, "had a craving for a salad," Sam knew he had switched topic and brought them back to it, "what are you going to tell your Mom?"

"I guess it depends," Danny replied after a few minutes of thinking, "if she asks about my arm I'll tell her I fell into barbed wire or something. If she decided that she wants to see the rest of me –which God knows she probably will- then I'll have to tell her. There's nothing normal that can explain some of those scars."

Sam's eyes were wide "You'd tell them?"

"I'd honestly have no choice," was Danny's soft reply, "unless you can think of a good excuse of why scars riddle my body. You've seen them all Sam, and know how bad some of them are."

"You could say you've gone 'Fight Club'," Sam's voice was somewhat joking, "you watch it enough so they might believe you."

Danny gave a small, brief laugh. It was nothing short of amazing, her ability to make him feel at least marginally better no matter the circumstances.

"Somehow I doubt she'll go for that one."

"Well how about I give you an excuse to stay out a few hours more? I have plans for a movie night and Tucker's off work right about now so we can call him to come over to my place. We can all sit down and try to figure out how to get you out of this one. Tucker is good at thinking up excuses."

He didn't think even Tucker could think up one good enough for this, but Danny could use the distraction.

"I'm game," Danny replied, watching as Sam pulled her cell phone to text the third member of their trio.

l.l.l

"Remind me again why we're watching a movie you've seen ten million times?"

The three of them were sitting in Sam's home theatre. Danny and Sam had met Tucker at her house, where they had filled him in on what had happened.

"We already know they'll accept you," Tucker had told him after digesting the story, "maybe now is the time to tell them."

Danny had been stunned when he realized that, for once, Tucker was being the voice of reason. Everything went back to normal two minutes later when Tucker saw the movie Sam was putting in and began to complain.

"Because," Sam replied with not so much as a glance at him, "I like this movie, and it's my house."

"But Sam," Tucker now went straight to whining, "it's a musical! How can a Goth like a musical?"

"A musical about a barber who slits peoples' throats for revenge," Sam pointed out and then shrugged, "besides, I like Johnny Depp. Especially when he's a homicidal barber."

"You realize how completely messed up that sounds right?" Danny added from his position of the couch.

Sam just shrugged her shoulders again and hit the play button. Then she climbed onto the couch between Danny and Tucker.

"Besides," Sam continued, "the movie is going to be background noise more than anything else. Since you know, we have to figure out how to help Danny, remember?"

"I'll still hoping to claim barbed wire," Danny replied, "it's fairly believable."

"Why don't you just tell them?" Tucker asked, "everything will be easier once they know."

"But they still hate Phantom," Danny replied softly, "I know they'll accept me, but is it wrong for me to want them to at least somewhat stand my alter ego before they know it's me? To want them to acknowledge that the other half of me is a good guy before they have to accept me because I'm their son?"

"No," Sam replied, taking his hand and giving it a tight squeeze, "it's not wrong to want that…but I don't know if it'll happen that way. I don't think they'll ever really trust Phantom until they can equate him with someone they already do trust."

Danny grimaced "not really helping Sam."

"But they trust _you_ Danny," Sam continued, "no matter what. They may see Phantom as some sort of villain because of their blind conviction, but they'll never see you that way."

"She's right dude," Tucker added, "your parents have thick skulls and are more stubborn than you. They're not going to change their minds until they have the truth thrown in their faces."

They were both right. Though Danny still hated it.

"Besides," Sam said, "you might not have to tell them yet, not if you don't want to. You still might be able to get away with the barbed wire excuse."

"You sure know how to cheer a guy up Sammy."

"Would you stop calling me Sammy!"

There was no way in hell Sam was going to tell him the nickname, as long as it came from his lips, was growing on her.

Danny just gave her an innocent smile, to which Sam just rolled her eyes.

"I'm going to head home," Danny said, continuing when their faces became shocked, "I'm not going to get up anymore nerve if I stay here and the more time I'm away the more questions they'll think up to ask. I'm going to have to bite the bullet on this one and get it over with."

"Good luck dude," Tucker told him sincerely, "I'm a phone call away if you need me."

"Thanks Tuck," Danny replied as he got to his feet, Sam following suit.

"I'll walk you to the door," Sam told him softly.

Tucker would have gladly walked with them to give more reassurance, but he knew it would turn into one of those sappy Danny Sam moments (and now wasn't the time to tease them about it).

When they reached the door Sam wrapped her arms around Danny and gave him a tight hug.

"Everything will be fine," she whispered to him, "whether you tell them or not. And Tucker's right, we're just a phone call away and can be there in ten minutes if you need us."

"Thanks Sam," he replied as he went ghost.

"Call me when it's over, no matter what."

Danny replied with a nod before he phased through her door and took to the sky. He was tempted to take the long way home, but he flew in a straight line towards his house. When Fenton Works came into sight, his stomach clenched painfully.

Would he tell his parents?

He had been dreading this moment for the past three years.

His life would be so much easier if they knew, but it could complicate things just as easily.

Without a doubt they would feel guilt, both for shooting at him and for not realizing anything was even wrong. They'd ask themselves why Danny hadn't trusted them with the truth, and that was the question he knew would bother him the most.

What if they decided ghost hunting was too dangerous? If they saw the scars then he knew they would…and they'd do all they could to keep him safe. What if they tried to make him stop?

Seventeen or not, Danny was well aware his parents could find a way to control him. One invention that could suppress his ghost powers and POOF! There go his days as a ghostly superhero.

Which would only lead to more danger in the long run. The ghosts would still come. As adapt as Valerie and his parents (well, his mom anyway) were, they were nothing compared to him. Amity would be pretty much screwed.

And when Skulker came for his pelt next time around, he'd finally succeed. As tough as Danny was as a human, chances were all those lovely upgrades from Skulker would kill him.

"Okay Fenton," he spoke out loud as he landed, "don't freak out. You have no idea what you'll need to tell them, so worrying about their reactions to the half ghost thing is premature. You still might be able to lie your way out of it…or you might decide it's time to tell them. Just see where this goes, and then decide."

He glanced around to make sure he was alone, changed back to himself, took another deep breath and slowly opened his front door.

He was surprised his parents didn't pounce on him the minute he walked in. As he discarded his sneakers and no one came at him, Danny began to wonder if his worries were blown out of proportion.

_Maybe this isn't as big of a deal as I thought it was_, Danny thought as he walked into the living room, _Maybe…_

Danny's thought trailed off when he realized his parents were waiting for him. They were both sitting on the couch, Maddie wringing her hands and Jack with an apparently comforting arm around her shoulder. To say the two of them looked upset would be an understatement.

They looked up when he entered the room, and Danny froze. The three of them stared at each other for a long moment, and then Maddie spoke.

"Danny, please sit down," Danny did as he was told silently and with a pounding heart he waited for the questions to begin.

"Danny, you realize you can tell us about anything right? No matter how strange or weird you think it might be?" the fact his father's voice held a degree of seriousness he had never heard before made Danny start to panic.

Had they figured it out? Had they somehow manage to connect the dots between scars and Phantom?

"I, um, know," Danny finally replied hesitantly as he fidgeted under their scrutinizing looks.

His parents exchanged a look, and this time his mother spoke up.

"Sweetie, you know that we love you and only want to help you. No matter what's wrong or what you tell us that will never change," when Danny still didn't answer, Maddie went on, "we know you've always been secretive. That's to be expected, you're a teenage boy, but over the past few years it's gotten so much worse. Why Danny?"

How could he answer her? The barbed wire excuse wasn't really going to work, and he was fresh out of lies, and saying nothing wouldn't get them off his back.

"Are you on drugs?" Jack blurted out suddenly, leaving Danny to stare at him dumbfounded.

They thought he was on drugs? That was what they thought was wrong?

Though, since they thought the existence of a half ghost was impossible, it was a reasonable guess of what was going on. He was always tired, had horrible mood swings and was erratic in every other aspect of his life.

"No, I'm not on drugs," Danny assured them, almost laughing.

If it was drugs, then his life would be much less complicated.

"Then what?" his mother was near tears. It almost broke his heart, "What caused those horrible scars? Why won't you let us help you?"

Danny wanted to tell them, he realized. All those fears he had thought of on the way here seemed to disappear.

He was so sick of lying. He hated they worried about him and that they hurt so much.

Sure they would feel horrible when they realized they had tried to hurt him so many times, but if they knew, everything would be easier. No more lies, they would be allies…and Danny could use all the help he could get.

He wanted to tell them and here was the perfect opportunity. He had their undivided attention and as far as he could tell there were no weapons nearby.

This was it. He was going to do it. After three years and a million lies it was time to let his parents in. With the decision made, Danny's heart began to pump rapidly in his chest from near panic. He swallowed painfully before he could speak.

"Actually," he began, his voice shaky.

"Mom! Dad! Danny! I'm home!" Jazz's voice echoed through the house, making the three of them jump.

His parent's attention was pulled away from him, and Danny abruptly realized what he was about to do. He jerked to his senses and began to panic for real.

He couldn't do this!

"Just a minute, Jazziepants!" Jack called out, and both focused back on Danny.

"You know what, it's nothing. I just fell into some barbed wire. I'm fine," Danny stuttered then jumped to his feet and bolted out of the room, "hey Jazz! What are you doing home?"

Jazz was standing in the doorway, a small bag in her hand.

"I got your email and decided it was time I paid a visit."

That was Jazz speak for, 'I'm worried about you and I want you to talk about it.'

"My message didn't say you had to rush down."

"It didn't say you didn't want me to either," Jazz retorted in her too cheery voice.

Danny rolled his eyes as his parents came into the kitchen. Although it was still apparent his parents were still upset, their mood was getting better as they greeted their daughter.

"I have to call Sam," Danny spoke up as his parents bombarded Jazz with questions about school.

He'd have to thank Jazz later for coming in when she did.

He also hoped Jazz's arrival would distract his parents long enough that they'd let the whole issue slide.

When he was safely in his room Danny flipped open his phone and dialed Sam's number.

"Are you okay? What happened?"

"Geez Sam, what did you do…wait with the phone on your lap?"

"Shut up and tell us what happened!"

"Us?"

"You're on speaker phone!" Sam's voice was irritated.

"Okay," Danny replied, "everything's fine. My parents don't know anything. I almost told them, but Jazz busted in for a visit and stopped me. They think I'm on drugs."

"That good or bad?" Tucker's voice asked from the background.

"I'll tell you when my stomach begins to settle down."

Danny heard the sound of footsteps ascending the stairs and figured it was time to wrap it up.

"I'll call you tomorrow okay? After I'm done with Paulina," he may have imagined it but Danny could have sworn he heard Sam make some sort of growling noise, which led him to hastily add, "our project remember? The one you guys kept teasing me about…"

"Fine," Sam still sounded a little huffy, "call tomorrow."

"Bye!" Tucker called out.

Before Danny could reply he was listening to the sound of the dial tone.

"Danny?" his sister's voice came, "Can I come in?"

"Come on in," he replied as he sat down on his bed.

The door opened and Jazz walked in. She made her way into the room and sat down on the edge of his bed.

"They let you go quick," his voice was somewhat suspicious.

His parents usually grilled Jazz about how she was doing for a good hour before they so much as let her put her stuff in her room.

"They mentioned you were in the middle of a talk and you might actually open up to me," Jazz explained, "so what happened?"

"Mom caught sight of some of my scars."

"What did you say?"

"Umm…" Danny replied rather sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "that I fell into barbed wire."

Jazz rolled her eyes, but Danny found himself continuing in a much more serious voice.

"I was…going to tell them when you walked in."

Jazz gasped as her aqua eyes widened.

"Oh my God Danny I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay," he replied sincerely, "I figure that if I was able to panic that much that fast then I'm not ready yet," Jazz gave him a funny look, "yeah, all your psychobabble is actually having an effect."

Jazz gave a self satisfied smirk, and Danny was tempted to throw a pillow at her.

"So what are those other things you wrote about?" Jazz was apparently all business today.

"I…" Danny began but trailed off.

Even though talking to Jazz about his problems always helped, he hated opening up.

"Come on Danny," Jazz gently prodded, "if you didn't need to talk about it you wouldn't have mentioned it in the email."

"It…there was a fight the other night. It was just Skulker, but…" he took a deep breath, "I totally lost it Jazz. I took chunks out of his suit with my bare hands. And I didn't want to stop…I wanted to finish him off. So much, because he tried to hurt Sam…"

If Jazz felt any sort of discomfort or horror at what he was telling her, she wasn't showing it.

Since she had the idea that her brother had more he needed to say, Jazz stayed silent and waited.

"It scares me Jazz," he admitted silently, "I hate knowing that I have enough power to do that. Being powerful when I'm facing the bad guys is a good thing, but what happens if I become the bad guy? And we know I can."

"Danny-" Jazz began softly but Danny just continued.

"To become _him_ I wouldn't even need to rip out my humanity," Danny looked her straight in the eye, "if something happens to Sam –if she dies because of me- then my humanity would get rid of itself…it'd die with her. If Skulker had killed her, I would have _destroyed_ him."

The last sentence was so blunt, it made Jazz almost cringe. Showing those emotions would only hurt her brother further, so she kept it to herself.

"Yes, you can become evil," Jazz chose her words carefully, "but we all can. You never know, maybe I'll come back as a ghost and become like Spectra. It's human nature to have a little darkness inside…you're just more aware of it because you've seen it firsthand. You promised never to become that and we all believe you. You walked away from the fight with Skulker still intact for the most part, right?" Danny nodded, "that tells me that you're stronger than you think. You wanted to destroy him for putting someone you love in danger, but you didn't. You _walked away_. And the fact that you admit you're scared about having so much powers, shows you're someone who can probably be trusted with it. _Anyone_ having that much power is scary, but if someone has to have it, I'm glad it's you."

Danny was silent as he continued to absently stare out his window. Jazz just waited.

"Thanks," he finally spoke, his voice soft.

"No problem baby brother. Anything else you want to talk about?"

"No," Danny replied, glancing at the digital clock sitting on his desk, "and it's time I started patrol anyway."

"Need any help?"

"Sure," he paused and gave his sister a look, "just don't suck me into a thermos okay."

"I'll do my best."

l.l.l.l

Her parents were down in the lab working and her brother was at the library -Jazz had laughed her ass off when she had learned the topic of his presentation-, so Jazz was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee making a rough outline of the term paper that was due at the end of next month.

It had taken her a while to come up with a topic because all of the good ideas she thought up would probably lead to her brother's exposure. Eventually, she had decided to go with 'extreme stress and the effects the teenage mind'…she just wouldn't mention what kind of stress she was talking about exactly. It was a pretty overused subject, but Jazz figured she could add some very good first hand expertise.

Jazz sighed and took a sip of her coffee, trying to figure out why exactly she was doing homework on a Saturday afternoon while visiting.

It was a knock on the front door that startled her out of her thoughts. She set her cup back on the table, got to her feet, made her way to the door and opened it.

There was a man and a woman standing there, both of them in smart suits and looking very professional. Usually Jazz wasn't one to base assumptions on vague feelings, but those guys gave her bad vibes.

"Jasmine Fenton?" the woman asked.

Instantly Jazz was on guard.

"Yes…"

"I'm Erin McNeil and this is Edward Carvell," the woman spoke, "we're with the school board."

_Oh no_. These were the people Danny had warned her about.

"How did you know I was here?" she could barely keep the suspicion and hostility out of her voice.

"We called your apartment and your roommate said you had come to Amity Park for the weekend."

These guys moved fast.

"How can I help you?" Jazz asked in cautiously.

"We have some questions concerning a guidance councillor who worked at your old school," McNeil spoke up again, "one Penelope Spectra."

"Why?" Jazz asked in a measured voice.

Maybe they would give up something that would help Danny figure out what was going on.

The two people on her doorstep – she had deliberately not asked them to come in- exchanged a glance.

"Ms. Spectra is currently under investigation for abuse. You understand we can't get into any more detail, as it is an ongoing investigation."

Well that didn't tell her anything.

"How can I help you?"

_Keep calm_, she told herself, _just keep calm._

"We were informed that you spent some time with Ms. Spectra."

"No, not really," Jazz cut them off, hoping to get them out of there soon as possible telling them as little as possible, "I only spoke with her briefly on a few occasions about my brother."

"Your brother was seeing Ms. Spectra?"

Jazz froze.

"I…all the students were seeing Spectra," Jazz quickly replied.

"But you have specific concerns with your brother?"

Despite the fact she was calm on the outside, Jazz was beginning to panic. She was trying to get them to leave her alone but by doing so she was leading them right to her brother. That was the last thing Danny needed.

"He's my baby brother," she replied calmly, "of course I wanted to know what was going on with him. It turned out to be nothing at all."

The last part was must have come out too quick, because the two of them exchanged another look.

"Ms. Fenton is your brother home?"

"No, he's at the library, but why-"

"Thank you for your help Ms. Fenton," a business card was handed to her, "if you think of anything else do contact us."

With that they turned around and walked away, leaving Jazz standing in her doorway with a semi-horrified look on her face.

_Oh crap._

By trying to get them to stop questioning her she had mistakenly sent them to her unsuspecting brother.

l.l.l.l

That's it. He was getting a restraining order. Or at least Phantom was.

Was the girl stalking him or something?

"Paulina…how the hell did you _get_ some of this?"

She had three scrap books -Danny was sureshe had just as many, if not more, pictures of him as Phantom as Sam did- full of pictures and articles…and some of them were a tad candid.

Then of course there was the merchandise. Paulina probably had at least one of every Phantom thing ever made, including those damn plushies.

And the piece de resistance? She had somehow managed to get her hands on the weirdest things; a ripped piece of his jumpsuit, some of his freaking hair, a discarded gloves and that was only the start of it. The list went on and on.

It was just damn creepy.

"After fights," Paulina replied like it was a most obvious thing in the world, "he drops stuff all the time."

"And the pictures?" he help up a picture of him lounging in the park. It had to be summer because the top half of his jumpsuit was phased off and he was sunbathing.

"Camera phone," she gave a dramatic sigh, "but a ghost attacked before I could reach him to ask him to go to the movies with me."

_And you're lucky too because he would have said no_, was the thought that passed through his mind.

"So," Danny spoke again, "as much as I'd like to stand up there and talk about how much you love Phantom, we're going to have to talk about more substantive stuff too."

Apparently Paulina didn't get the concept of sarcasm because she sighed dramatically again.

"_Si_…and that's what you're here for! You can do all the boring stuff!"

_Thank God_. That meant he wouldn't have to work with her all the time.

"Since that's decided, I have things to do. I'll let you know when I'm finished with the boring stuff."

"Get it done soon," the girl commanded, "that way I can make sure you're talking about the right things. I won't let a loser like you screw up this chance to impress the Ghost Boy!"

I_ wonder what she'll call me when I'm all grown up_, he thought musingly, _The Ghost Man?_

"I'll do just that," Danny replied, and once again Paulina didn't catch the sarcasm.

"Whatever loser," Paulina dismissed him.

_It's a good thing she's pretty_, Danny mused as he walked out of the library.

He was just pulling out his cell phone to call Sam, when he noticed two people walking towards him. He recognized them within a few seconds and froze. They were the two 'school board members' that had been in Lancer's office yesterday. The ones asking about Spectra.

They were looking right at him and Danny knew it was not a good thing.

"Daniel Fenton?"

Crap. If he tried to make a getaway now it'd be way too suspicious.

"Yeah," he replied, throwing as much 'teenager who hates authority' as possible in his voice, "and who are you?"

"We're with the school board and looking for information about Penelope Spectra. Your sister told us that Spectra treated you."

He was going to kill Jazz.

"She didn't treat me and she talked to the whole school," Danny replied, "and that was three years ago."

"What was your opinion of Ms. Spectra?"

"Spectra was a bitch," Danny replied bluntly, seeing no harm in telling the complete truth for that answer.

"Would you say she made you feel…miserable?"

"Yea-" Danny cut himself off when he realized exactly what he was saying.

They knew Spectra was a ghost, there was no question for him now. The use of the word 'miserable' in context to Spectra gave that fact away. Now he had to ask just how much they knew and why the hell they cared.

"Look," Danny spoke again, "I'm meeting my friends."

With that, Danny walked away without letting them ask any more questions.

The two of them watched him leave.

"Very evasive that one," Carvell commented, "the sister too."

"Very," was the reply, "almost as though they have something to hide. The sister tried to get our attention away from him the moment she mentioned him, and I'm willing to bet that was a mistake."

"Very suspicious, both of them. Did you see the way they rested so defensively the moment Spectra's name was mentioned?"

"They know something," it was agreed, "whether it's important or not remains to be seen. We should keep them both under surveillance until the sister leaves. Then keep it on the boy. There's just something about him. I think if we watch him long enough, he'll give us the answers we need."

l..

An- For starters, I'd like to thank Leiaorganicsolo for her little 'restraining order' idea. I thought it was too cute and had to throw it in there somewhere!

Secondly, okay guys…I had fifty hits for last chapter and just one review, plus two people added the story to their story alerts. I thank everyone who has/is reading this, but I'm also going to beg you to **REVIEW**! I'm a total review junkie; tell me what you liked, didn't like, what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong or how you think I can make it better. I need the input guys (especially that which says how I can improve) to know that I'm going in the right direction. Not to mention getting reviews makes me happy…happy people write quicker (well, maybe not so much when I have midterms starting, but that's besides the point).

So to sum it up, hope you enjoyed the chapter and do drop me a line! Peace, Love & Rainbow.


	8. Chapter 8

An- So yeah…it's been awhile…a long while. But I have an excuse(es). First I was swamped with school and decided to take the last two months of classes and just devote my attention to school. After that my laptop broke, where all of my writing was (though I did have everything saved on a disk- thank God). Then I had to move across the country, where I did finally get a new laptop (again with the thank God). Then I started work. FINALLY everything has calmed down and I've time to write again. So here is a new chapter and please forgive how late it is!

Chapter Eight

"Jazz, what the _hell_!"

"Danny I'm sorry! I was trying to tell them that I barely spent time around Spectra, and I mentioned you! I'm sorry!"

Danny just sighed at how apologetic and upset Jazz's voice sounded. He couldn't even blame her all that much. Those two were good; they had him giving them answers before he realized what he was really saying. They had known what they were doing…and like hell they were members of the school board.

"It's fine," he replied, "they're gone now anyway. Hopefully they won't find whatever they're looking for and they'll go away."

"But what _are_ they looking for? When was the last time Spectra was even out here causing trouble?"

"Last year," Danny told her, "and she was only out here for a few days. Barely did any damage. Unless she's been causing trouble somewhere else, as far as I know she's still in the Ghost Zone."

"So why are people asking questions about her? I just don't understand. I'm assuming that they know that she's a ghost, but if they know that why would they be trying to find out information on her?"

"I want to know how they found out about Spectra being a ghost in the first place," Danny furthered, "and if it's connected with what Ember told me."

"But why Ember and Spectra?" Jazz was asking, more to herself than to Danny, "I mean, they're far from the most powerful ghosts around. Sure Ember is high profile, but not Spectra. What makes the two of them worth investigating?"

"If I knew we wouldn't be having this conversation," Danny paused as his destination came into view, "gotta go Jazz; I'm meeting Sam and Tucker at the Nasty Burger. I'll see you when I get home."

"Have fun," Jazz replied and then added, "be careful."

Danny rolled his eyes at his sister's protectiveness as he hit the end button and flipped his cell phone shut. He was invisible as he landed behind the Nasty Burger, and when he changed he stepped out of the shadows. Danny made his way around to the front, went through the front door and looked for his friends.

Sam and Tucker were already sitting at a table with food in front of them. As he approached the table he couldn't help but roll his eyes as he caught the sound of the all too common meat versus veggies argument.

"Seriously Sam," Tucker was saying as Danny reached the table, "meat gives you protein. You need protein…maybe if you ate some you wouldn't be so tiny."

"I get all the protein I need," Sam informed him, "that's what multivitamins are for."

"And his side is fine," Danny added as he slid in beside her, "or at least I think so."

Sam's cheeks lit up a brilliant shade of pink…which was the desired effect.

Tucker of course has his PDA out and was documenting the moment.

"Of course you have to take her side," Tucker complained after he had the photographic evidence.

"I don't take sides," Danny replied, "I'm Switzerland. Unless of course you want me to comment on your body," Tucker made a face, "that's what I thought. Besides, you two have been having this argument since we met in kindergarten. When are you going to learn that you're never going to sway the other."

"Way to take the fun away," Tucker complained.

"Hey guys!"

The three of them looked up to find Valerie standing there, still in her work uniform.

"Hey Val," Danny said while Sam gave a smile. Tucker's face lit right up as he scooted over to give her room to sit.

"Thanks Tuck," she smiled at him and sat down, "but I can't stay long. I'm on my ten minute break. But I saw Danny walk in and just _had_ to see how his project is going."

Danny glared at his grinning friend, and when the other two began to laugh he turned his glare on them.

"She's insane…completely insane. Next time I run into Phantom I'm telling him to file a restraining order against her. She has a lock of m-his hair."

"How the hell did she get that!" Valerie exclaimed in what appeared to be disgust.

"Apparently I-he had some hair ripped out during a fight. And she collected it."

"That's so creepy," Tucker spoke up.

"Go figure," Sam commented, "Paulina is an insane stalker. I haven't been saying that for awhile now or anything. And I think Phantom should get that restraining order."

There was an evil glint in Sam's eyes and Danny knew that she was imagining Paulina's reaction if a restraining order was delivered to her.

Danny figured it would be a reaction worth seeing.

"Can ghosts even take out restraining order?" Tucker wondered out loud.

Valerie was just giving them all strange looks.

"You people have the weirdest conversations."

"Don't you mean 'we' Val?" Tucker asked her with a grin, "since you just happen to be here too."

Val gave a small smile "I guess that's true."

Danny and Sam exchanged a look and a smirk.

"You know," Danny spoke, "if you two love birds want to be alone, Sam and I can leave."

Both of them looked embarrassed and Sam took the opportunity to snap a picture with her cell phone.

"Hey!" they both cried indignantly.

"I think that'll look good on Facebook, don't you agree Danny?"

"Why Sam yes I do. Revenge is sweet."

"Isn't it though."

"But I got to go," Val said as she climbed to her feet, "my break is up. And Sam, is it alright if I head to your house tomorrow afternoon to look through your closet? I have the entire day off."

"Sure thing," Sam replied, "I'll be there."

"We still on for tonight?" Tucker asked before Val could leave.

"Of course," Val replied with a smile before she walked back towards the counter.

"Movie," Tucker announced proudly, "that would make this date number two."

"Wow Tucker, you've gone and broke your record. Good job."

"Hey!"

Danny just grinned at his jibe before his thoughts turned to a more serious nature. Seeing the grimmer expression change Danny's face, Sam knew that some not-so-pleasant news was about to come up.

"What's wrong?"

"After I was done with Paulina," the not so subtle narrowing of Sam's eyes made him backtrack, "I mean, when I was leaving the library a man and a woman approached me to ask about Spectra. They stopped at the house earlier and spoke to Jazz. They say they're from the school board, but since when does the school board send members to out interview graduated students on a teacher who hasn't worked there in four years?"

"What did they ask?"

"About what Spectra was 'treating' me for. Specifically, if she made me feel miserable."

Both Tucker and Sam's eyes widened at that bit of news.

"They know she's a ghost," Tucker was the one who stated the obvious, "but how?"

"We should be worried about the why," Sam spoke up, "it's not like Spectra is here causing trouble at this very moment."

"I'm more worried about the who at the moment," Danny replied somewhat dryly, "because there's no way in hell they're school board members. They're way too smooth; they managed to get Jazz of all people to trip up and say that Spectra was 'treating' me and that I was at the library, then got me to admit that she made me feel miserable."

"Smooth like special agent smooth?" Tucker ventured, causing them all to pause and think.

"The Guys in White? When have they _ever_ been smooth? They're a group of bumbling idiots."

"True," Tucker replied, "but you never know; Maybe they managed to snag a few James Bond types. You know, to make sure they actually do something right for once."

"That's all we need," Danny mumbled, "competent agents poking around."

"Tucker," Sam spoke up, "can you hack into the Guys in White's systems and all that to see if they have any files or something about what's going on?"

"Pft," Tucker waved it away, "easy as pie. Any five year old with a half decent computer could hack their way past security."

"You've done it before?" Danny asked with raised eyebrows.

"Once, twice…a few dozen times maybe. You know, just to keep updated on what they're doing."

"And if you were ever caught?"

"I figure Sam could lend me a good lawyer."

Sam rolled her eyes and Danny couldn't help but grin.

"I'll check it out tonight after my date," Tucker said.

"And maybe you should lay low for awhile too," Sam turned to Danny, "people poking around about ghosts could always cause trouble with Phantom."

Danny sighed; this wasn't the first time he had to lie low and he hated it every time. Being able to fly around as Phantom was a type of freedom, and when he had to be extra careful it felt so restraining. But, as with most of the time, Sam was right.

"I'll only go ghost if it's an emergency," Danny couldn't help but sigh again.

It could always be worse though. At least he was still fairly powerful in human form. Ghost or not, he was still far from weak.

"It probably won't be for long anyway," Sam continued hopefully, "those school board agents or whoever they are will ask a bunch of questions, and when they don't get any good answers, they'll leave. Let's face it guys, the citizens of Amity Park are gifted when it comes to the talent of ignoring the obvious. Just look how long it took them to actually admit that ghosts exist. No matter what questions they're asked, no one will give a helpful answer."

Oh how true it was. Still, it was always better to ere on the side of caution.

"Still, be careful what you say if either of you guys have to talk to them. Oh, and make sure you listen to questions because it might help us figure out what is going on."

l.l.l.l

"Good lord Sam, your house it huge!"

Sam just gave an amused half smile at the absolutely amazed expression on Valerie's face as she looked around Sam's front hall.

It was pretty funny to watch someone react. For a minute Sam had worried that Val wouldn't appreciate being in a place surrounded by money while she was still struggling, but then brushed that concern aside. This was Val, and though she may react bad to some things, Sam's finances weren't one of them.

"I had no idea that you had this much money," Val continued, "you don't flaunt it like the others at school do. I mean, I never would have thought you were poor or anything, but wow!"

"I don't want to flaunt it," Sam casually replied, "last thing I need is a bunch of people trying to be my friends because I have money. I even held off telling Danny and Tucker. Sure those two tease me about it and Tucker constantly asks to borrow ten bucks," she rolled her eyes, "but I know they're my friends because of me, not my money."

"Your secrets safe with me," Val promised and then grinned, "but I might start asking to borrow ten bucks too."

Sam gave a small laugh as she gestured for Valerie to follow her through the house.

"Although," Val spoke again, "you have to admit that seeing the A crowd's reaction to this would be damn priceless. Especially Paulina."

Sam snickered at that and added "I'll tell her when Phantom's restraining order gets delivered. Maybe her head will explode."

The two of them were still laughing when they stepped into Sam's room. Val wasn't surprised that it was a complete mirror to Sam's princess of darkness attitude. It was nice to know that there was one person whose personality was just a projection for when they were in public. Sam was a Goth through and through, public or private.

"My closet's over there," Sam gestured over to it, "help yourself. I know there are clothes in there that are bigger. Seems my various relations haven't seen a picture of me considering the clothes they send me as presents."

"Yeah. From the way you talk I've never got the impression you're big with the family vibes."

"Definitely not," Sam sighed, remembering that once again her parents had ditched her.

Oh well, Sam thought to herself, at least I got a night out with Danny because of it.

"Not to sound repetitive or anything," Val's voice filtered out from the closet, "but your closet is huge! I think I could fit my room in here."

Sam laughed and sat down on her bed, letting Valerie rummage on her own. There was nothing private in there so she wasn't worried about that, and if for some reason Val needed help she'd ask.

"My God! You actually own_ pink_!" Val's surprised voice spoke up again.

Sam grimaced a little. Apparently Val had made her way back to where the offending pink articles were shoved.

"Gifts from parents," was her bland reply, "they don't like the way I dress. But hell will freeze over before I actually wear on of those."

Valerie was silent at that. At first she had wanted to laugh about the fact Sam Manson owned girly, frilly things, but the reason behind it wasn't really funny.

That was never a problem with Valerie; sure her father pushed her to achieve, but he never tried to change her. He supported her decisions even if he didn't like it, like when it came to ghost hunting. Her mom had been the same until she died. No matter what happened Val always had a strong family support system where Sam, despite all the things she did have, didn't.

It sure helped make sense of a few of the mysteries that were Sam Manson.

"Well your parents have horrible taste," Val replied, "because these dresses are ugly."

Her reply was rewarded with a confirming snort.

See, she told herself, it's not that hard to get along with Sam without the guys here. You were totally worrying over nothing.

Back sitting on her bed, Sam's mind was running similar thoughts.

"So what have you decided to be?" Val was asking another question, "for Halloween?"

"Not sure yet. Danny says I should just go as Goth as possible, but where's the fun in that? His other suggestion was to wear one of the pink dresses, and I hit him for that one."

"Good thing. Besides," Val's voice turned sly, "I'm thinking he'd rather see you in something else entirely. Something with much less material perhaps."

Even though she had seen such a comment coming, it didn't stop the blush that coloured her cheeks.

"Umm…"

Way to give a cleaver retort there Manson, Sam chided herself.

"It's true," Val's voice almost sing songed as she poked her head out of the closet, "he totally wants you."

"Yeah right," Sam muttered under her breath.

"He's just too chicken to make the first move," Val continued, ignoring Sam's disbelieving snort, "scared of screwing up. I don't know why; it's so obvious you love him and even if you didn't, you'd never let a crush ruin your relationship."

"If it's so obvious then why the hell doesn't he take the hint? We go so beyond flirting it isn't even funny, and then the next minute it's dismissed as 'just friends'. I know I do it too, but only after I see he's going to. We went out the other night and I swear it was a date…but then the next morning it was back to two friends going out for the night. The only sane conclusion is that he doesn't care about me that way."

Val actually burst out laughing at that, and Sam scowled at her.

"Oh Sam," Val finally managed to get out around her laughter, "he probably draws the exact same conclusion. The two of you are so alike it's scary. It's also pretty counteractive. My advice it just jump him and go from there."

The joking smile on Val's lips made it clear that Val was joking…or at least half joking.

If only things were that simple, Sam thought rather ruefully.

"As much as I appreciate the advice, let's get back to the task at hand shall we? See anything you like in there?"

"I think there's a skirt in here I can use, but I'll have to try it on to make sure. It looks like it should fit. I have a shirt at home that will go with it and I'll go from there."

"That's great," Sam replied, "are you going to tell me what it is or not?"

"Still not a hundred percent sure, plus I'll let it be a surprise. I'll let you know this though; it'll be hot."

Sam laughed at the declaration "I'm sure it will be. For now, are you thirsty or anything?"

This is fun, Sam thought to herself as she heard Val's affirmative reply, the hanging out with a girlfriend thing. It's nice to talk about clothes and boys with another girl. We'll have to do this more often.

l..

As Danny waited outside his English class for Sam and Tucker he resisted the urge to pace.

He knew that Tucker had done the hacking, but Danny didn't know how it had turned out; Tucker had had family stuff to take care of yesterday and hadn't been able to let Danny know how it had gone.

So first thing Monday morning Danny was ready to bombard Tucker with questions. Since Tucker hadn't contacted him immediately Danny knew it wasn't anything dangerous that had been found, but he would feel better once he knew exactly what Tucker had seen.

When he finally saw Tucker walking towards him Danny opened his mouth to ask his questions, but when Sam walked into his line of sight his mind trailed off.

She was wearing _that_ shirt.

It was a forest green tube top with matching arm warmers and a choker with a black jewel in the middle. She wore it with a black mini skirt that gave a great view of her legs, but it was the shirt that captured Danny's attention.

It brought back memories of Sam's stint as Undergrowth's queen; as unpleasant as that whole situation was, the little green outfit Sam had been in wasn't. Then she had gone and brought a shirt that resembled it, and anytime she wore it Danny had to try extra hard to keep his concentration.

"Umm Danny," Sam spoke up as she and Tucker approached him, "you still there?"

It had seemed as though Danny had been about to say something when his attention seemed to wander off.

"What?" Danny asked, his eyes still somewhat unfocused.

Then she realized his unfocused gaze was centred on her and Sam fidgeted.

Beside her Tucker was barely containing his snickers.

"Danny," Sam spoke again, "were you going to say something?"

"Right," Danny seemed to snap out of it, "Tucker did you find anything?"

"Why yes Danny my date did go fine," Tucker replied with a sarcastic roll of his eyes, "thank you so much for asking."

"Sorry," Danny's apology was sheepish, "how was your date?"

"I had a great time and I thing Val did too," Tucker answered smugly, "and we'll be having a third date sometime soon."

"Val enjoyed herself," Sam put in, "she talked a lot about it yesterday."

That's right, Danny thought to himself, yesterday was Sam and Valerie's closet day. Wonder how it went.

"It was fun," Sam seemed to read his mind, "hanging out with another girl was nice for a change."

Tucker beamed; Sam and Val getting along made his life so much easier.

"I'm glad," Danny told them both with a small smile, "but-"

"You really want to talk about what I did or didn't find when I hacked," Tucker finished for him.

"Well, it is kinda important…"

"When I hacked in I didn't see anything overly suspicious, but one thing did surprise me; they've upped their security. I mean big time. It took me forever just to get in, let alone shift through files. And I couldn't even look through that much because I got a tracer sicked on me. They were able to pick up my presence after about half an hour," seeing the slightly panicky look on Danny's face hurried to reassure, "they didn't trace me though! Don't worry! The minute I caught on to the tracer I was gone. Don't sweat dude, I didn't get caught. I'm too good for them."

"You sure?" Danny had to be certain.

"Agents haven't been knocking on my door yet have they?" Tucker replied with a shrug.

"So we can assume that stepped up security is a bad thing," Sam spoke up, "but why was it stepped up?"

"They probably realized that someone had been sneaking in and stepped it up," Tucker shrugged, and then took a moment to consider, "…and maybe they decided to do it now because they're up to something and want to be certain no one figures out what's happening. It would explain the tracers," now Tucker was more or less saying to himself, "they realized that someone was hacking their systems and wanted to find out who. Probably want to know if it's just some two bit hacker who gets kicks out of messing with the government or someone like me who has a real reason to."

"And in case it _is_ someone who has a reason to," Danny concluded, "they upped security. Just to make sure no secrets end up getting out to whoever might be searching for them. The fact that the extra security comes in now when there is some suspicious stuff going on only furthers the idea they're up to something."

"In other words," Sam finally spoke up, "Tucker's hacking got us absolutely nothing in the answers department."

That was a depressing thought.

"I can try again," Tucker offered, "it shouldn't be that tough really. It just caught me by surprise is all."

"No," Danny replied, "we don't want to take the change you'll get caught. That would only lead to more badness," when he caught Tucker's somewhat offended look he quickly added, "not that I doubt your hacker skills or anything, but just in case."

"Fine," Tucker somewhat grumbled, "but I could do it without getting caught."

"Of course you could," Sam replied, but Tucker missed the roll of her eyes and figured she was completely serious.

So all they could do was wait and see if anything else suspicious happened and go from there.

Danny sighed; he hated having to wait to see if something happened. He wasn't nearly patient enough.

It seemed that the time for serious discussion was over because now Tucker was trying to convince Sam to tell him anything Valerie had said about him.

"I'm not saying a word past she said that she had a good time on your date," Sam kept replying the same way every time he asked.

"But Sam…" Tucker whined.

"Still not telling," Sam replied, hands on hips. By the sound of her voice she was getting irritated. But of course Tucker had no plans of stopping.

Though Danny's mind went and tuned out the semi argument when Sam's new stance went and emphasised yet again what shirt she was wearing. Then of course his mind wandered off completely.

Was it completely wrong for him to be fantasizing about a time she was not only possessed but evil to boot? Especially when he was the good guy?

Sam had been in the middle of telling Tucker no yet again when she noticed that Danny was staring at her again. She looked at him and saw the completely glazed over expression in his eyes and then squirmed under it.

"Danny," Sam spoke to snap him out of it again, "what are you staring at?"

He blinked a few times to focus his attention and then smiled a sheepish smile.

"Sorry…one of those moments," though Sam looked like she was going to continue to question and Danny realized he had to get out of there, "and…I'll be right back. Ah, gotta use the washroom before the bell. See you in class."

The he was practically sprinting down the hall leaving a bewildered Sam to stare after him.

"Argh! Why does he keep giving me that look? Do I look that horrible this morning or something?"

"Um Sam, in case you can't tell, it's a _good_ look."

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"Geez Sam, it's the shirt. He's admiring the view. No, I don't mean it in a bad way so don't hurt me. He thinks you look good in it, especially since it's green."

"What does the colour green have to do with anything?" now Sam was even more confused.

"Remember back when Undergrowth attacked and took you over? Well, he had you in this little green dress that left almost nothing to the imagination," a blush traveled up her face, "and remember that I love you only as a friend, but you were _hot_."

"So wearing green reminds him of that outfit?" Sam asked, trying to process what Tucker had told her.

"And thus makes some very inappropriate thoughts," Tucker finished and Sam blushed even deeper.

Just when Tucker was about to say something else a voice interrupted him.

"Excuse me?" they turned to see a man in a suit standing next to them, "can I speak to the two of you from a moment?"

Tucker and Sam exchanged a look before Sam answered.

"Umm, sure I guess."

"Good. I have a few questions about a guidance councillor who used to work here. A Ms. Spectra."

l..

Danny was mentally cursing himself as he strode towards the bathroom.

Sam had had that shirt for a year and he still practically drooled every time he saw her in it. How pathetic was that?

He was still berating himself when someone clamped onto his arm and hauled him to the side.

Instinct had him swinging out to hit whoever had grabbed him. He managed to stop his fist before it slammed into Paulina's face, and quick enough that the girl didn't even notice how close she had come to getting a broken nose.

After years of having ghosts grabbing him in an attempt to kill him the way his body reacted was to strike out. Unexpected contact was not a welcome thing, especially when it surprised him.

"Paulina, what the hell are you doing?"

Why was Paulina acknowledging him in public, let alone touching him? And where were was she pulling him off to?

"Don't embarrass me Fenton," she warned and then her face changed completely as she smiled sweetly, "this nice reporter here wants to ask us questions about our project."

There was a young woman with an open notepad in her hands. She was smiling at the two of them, but Danny could tell it was false.

Christ I hate reporters, Danny couldn't help but think.

"Project," he repeated without emotion.

"Yes," the woman took over, "I'm doing an article on Danny Phantom, and I heard that you're doing some sort of end of the year project on him. I figured I'd come on over here and see what you two know."

"And how did you happen to find out what two high school students are doing for a project?" Danny asked casually.

Her eyes narrowed somewhat. In his mind Danny noted that the reporter didn't like to be questioned.

"I have my ways," was her non-answer.

Instantly Danny's distrust went up.

Paulina elbowed him roughly before speaking "What is it you'd like to know? I'm Phantom's biggest fan! I am going to get my name in the article right?"

"Of course," the false smile was back and directed at an oblivious Paulina.

Danny had to physically stop himself from rolling his eyes. Even Paulina should have been smart enough to realize that there was something off with a news reporter tracking down students to ask about the project they were doing. But then again, the minute it had been mentioned that her name would appear in print the logical part of Paulina's brain had shut off.

Paulina kept gushing about the awesomeness that was Phantom, but Danny tuned her out in favour of thinking.

First someone was asking questions about Ember, then Spectra and now a reporter was sniffing around Phantom. Questions about three ghosts at the same time.

And the possibility of coincidence flew out of Danny's mind just then.

Great, he thought, just what I need. Could it get any worse?

His question was answered a moment later when a shiver passed over his body and the blue mist that made up his ghost sense shot out of his mouth.

l.l.l.l

An- Silly Danny…you should know by now that you never ask if it can get any worse.

Anyway, there's your extremely late chapter, full of more mystery and Sam/Val bonding! Oh, and since I'm in no way a hacker (I'm barely computer literate) so if I got the details about Tucker's hacking wrong please forgive me!

Since my life is pretty much settled at the moment, the next chapter will NOT take as long as this one. I'm promising a fairly speedy update. Don't forget to leave me a review! Peace, Love & Rainbows!


	9. Chapter 9

An- Yeah…so I know I said I'd get this up before now, but a whole bunch of family came down out of nowhere. So between them and work, there went all my free time. Sorry and all that, but here's a new chapter! Hope you enjoy.

Chapter Nine

It took Danny a moment to recognize the mist for what it was, and when he did it triggered a swearing tirade that he somehow managed to keep internal.

God Damnit! Jesus fucking Christ!

Why did these things always seem to happen at the worse possible moment?

Danny looked around him, making sure to keep his glances subtle. He saw nothing right off the bat, but he knew that didn't mean anything.

He had to get away and out of this crowded hallway. Especially away from this reporter.

The last thing he needed was to be acting suspicious, or at least more suspicious than normal anyway, in front of a reporter asking questions about Phantom.

People were pretty dumb when it came to connecting the dots, but there was no reason to risk anything.

Paulina was still nattering on about how amazing Phantom was, and the reporter was looking irritated. It looked as though she was attempting to direct Paulina into the line of questions she wanted to ask, but was having no luck. The reporter looked to Danny with a somewhat helpless look, eyes asking if Paulina was always like this. Danny shrugged his yes, successfully hiding his amused grin.

"So, Danny is it?" the reporter cut Paulina off, turning to Danny in hopes that he would be able to answer her without rambling, "What about you? Why did you decide to use Phantom as your project?"

Danny couldn't help but cock an eyebrow.

"I got paired with her," indicating Paulina, "do you really think I had a choice?"

A small smirk touched the corner of the woman's mouth while Paulina glared.

When it looked like she was going to ask another question, Danny spoke up again.

"Look, I have to use the bathroom before the bell."

Without further explanation Danny walked off, leaving the two fuming women behind him. He hurried away, thankful when he was able to duck into an empty bathroom.

It surprised him that whatever ghost he had sensed hadn't shown its face yet. Usually they came in guns a blazing without giving him a chance to prepare himself.

Not that he was complaining, but it was still surprising.

Danny stepped into a stall and closed the door. If anyone came in he'd still be hidden. He'd have to make this quick though; with a reporter still possibly hanging around it would be a good idea to exit the bathroom the same way he came in.

He transformed and once he was a ghost he went invisible. He flew out of the stall and then out of the room altogether. Danny floated about the hallway, looking for the ghost that he had sensed.

There was nothing. No other ghosts and no general sense of panic.

Then he realized that after that first puff of mist, he hadn't sensed a ghost again, and it had taken him at least three minutes to get to where he was now.

Confusion filled him; he _had_ sensed something, but where was it?

Maybe a ghost had just been passing through and meant no harm? He also wouldn't put it past some of them to deliberately take a detour through the school just to set off his ghost sense. They might not do the whole evil thing anymore, but they still took great pleasure in annoying the hell out of him. Youngblood had spent an entire Friday doing it once.

He waited a few minutes, hovering there uncertainly. When the warning bell blared through the still very crowded hall, Danny knew it was time to head back to class.

He gave one last look around the hall, snickering when he saw that Paulina was still blathering on enthusiastically to the reporter, who looked desperate for escape.

Served her right. Hopefully it would keep her far away from now on.

Danny flew back into the washroom and transformed. He walked out of the washroom and made a beeline for English class, hoping that the reporter wouldn't spot him and try to get anything of importance from Paulina.

Every once and awhile Danny was glad that his 'number one fan' was a complete ditz. This was one of those times.

As Danny reached the door to his English class he breathed a silent sigh of relief.

Whatever ghost had set off his radar clearly didn't have attacking him in mind.

Maybe his day would turn out all right after all.

l..

Sam and Tucker exchanged another glance, this one with a flash of panic behind it. They carefully schooled their features from showing it though. Years of lying had made them very good at it.

"What about her?" Sam asked, taking the lead. She was better at it than Tucker.

Her question was nonchalant, not daring to show how interested she really was in what they were about to be asked.

He didn't notice. In fact, Sam noted, he looked rather bored. He had probably been asking the same questions over and over and been getting the same pointless answers.

"What did you think of her?"

Sam paused for a moment, considering her answer.

"I didn't like her," Sam answered, "it was a while ago, but from what I can remember, she was a horrible guidance councillor."

Better to leave a little bit of truth in her answer. If she gave a completely different story than what everyone else was likely to give then it would look strange. Damn suspicious too, and they couldn't have that.

"Oh? How's that?"

"You know," Sam replied with a shrug, "the advice she gave wasn't great."

"She really didn't seem to care that much either," Tucker supplied from behind her.

It wasn't coming out in so many words that Spectra made them all miserable, but the vague idea of it was there. Good enough to mesh with everyone else but not volunteering anything more than necessary.

"Any idea what happened to Ms. Spectra?"

"Not a clue," Sam shrugged again, "she just left. Real quick too."

"We all just figured she got a better offer at another school," Tucker added.

The man gave a small nod.

The overhead bell rang and Sam saw it as their chance to take off before anymore questions could be asked.

"Thank you," he replied, realizing that the bell would put an end to the interview.

"Welcome," Sam replied politely before she took hold of Tucker's arm and pulled him towards English class.

They stayed quiet until they reached the classroom and took their seats. Danny wasn't there yet. So all they could do was wait for him to get there before they could let him know what had just happened.

Danny slipped into the classroom just as the second bell rang. He sat down at his desk as Mr. Lancer turned away from the chalk bored and looked to the class.

Sam noticed instantly that there was a semi confused look on his face. She pulled a piece of paper out of her notebook, scribbled a quick note on it and tossed it onto Danny's desk.

Danny jumped a bit when the paper hit his hands. He looked over, noticed Sam looking at him expectantly and opened the note.

As he read the words, Danny silently cursed.

_Some guy just stopped and asked Tucker and I about Spectra. Same type of questions you got asked._

Even if he had figured that that would happen, Danny wasn't any less annoyed with the fact.

_I had someone stop Paulina and I and asked us all about Phantom._

He wrote down his reply, passed it back to Sam and then waited. A half a minute later the note was back.

_Anything too close to home? What did you say?_

_Only why we chose Phantom as our project and Paulina took care of those answers. I pleaded the washroom and ran off. I sensed a ghost and wanted to be out of there and safely transformed before it showed up. None did though._

A pause.

_Youngblood again?_

_Who knows? And I don't care as long as no one attacks me._

Danny felt someone kick his chair and turned to Tucker. His friend was sitting there, gesturing to the note of Danny's desk and looking annoyed. Clearly Tucker wasn't enjoying the fact that he was being left out of this written conversation.

Danny rolled his eyes and passed the note over to Tucker so that he could read it. He exchanged an amused glance with Sam at their friend's irritation and then Danny tuned into what Lancer was teaching.

He had better at least listen to some on the lesson. Danny glanced over to see Sam and Tucker now trading notes, but didn't feel the need to be included. He'd learn about it soon enough.

Until then he had to listen to Lancer drone on about a book he hadn't had time to actually read.

His intentions of taking good notes died off a moment later when his mind slowly trailed off.

Of course it trailed off to all the wonderful problems, or at least complications, that kept coming his way. All at once.

First there was the one again off again power boost that brought out his inner evil (not to sound too cliché or anything). Then questions about ghosts coming from mysterious 'school board members' that may or may not be under cover government agents. Now there was a reporter asking about Phantom, which was never a good thing for his mental health. If course there was the added issue that he probably wouldn't be able to look at Sam all day without his thoughts trailing off in another, less appropriate direction because she was in that shirt (though that was more of a pleasant distraction opposed to a complication).

For the millionth time since getting ghost powers Danny found himself asking 'why me'?

He wondered if the reporter had plans to stick around and ask questions to anyone other than him and Paulina. Since she had gotten nothing out of him and nothing of use from Paulina, Danny had to assume that she'd be interviewing (or at least trying to) other people, most likely students.

Thankfully, despite what he considering glaring and obvious evidence, no one who was interviewed would make the connection between Fenton and Phantom. Maybe some outside source could potentially make some connection between the two if they looked close enough, but no one in his immediate life ever would.

Sometimes it paid to be under appreciated and over looked.

Like Sam had said earlier, he'd just have to lie low for awhile. He could do that until any questions blew over. As long as no ghosts went on a rampage, he'd be fine.

Right, a very sarcastic voice filtered through Danny's head, because anything ever goes that easily for you. Murphy's law was written with you in mind.

Danny sighed. Life was never that simple, especially his.

Although, another thought struck him, maybe I can tweak my laying low skills just a little. Follow those school board members via invisibility and see what they're really up to. Then, if that reporter was still around follow her the same way.

That was a sure fire way to find out what was really going on.

He'd have to be careful of course, considering if it was actually connected to the GWI then they'd probably have ghost detecting equipment with him, but that would be the most direct way to go.

All these questions were getting irritating. He just wanted to know once and for all what was going on so that he could stop it.

He'd ask Sam and Tucker what they thought after class, but for now he really needed to pay attention.

l.l.l.l

When his ghost sense went off yet again Danny was ready to pull his hair out.

The first time it was a mystery, the second annoying and now at the fifth, it was driving him crazy.

It was the same every time; his ghost sense would go off, he'd throw out one of his famous excuses, run away to transform and then wait. And wait, but still on one showed their faces.

At first he had been sure it was Youngblood again, but the more times it happened the less likely that possibility seemed. Last time Youngblood had pulled a stunt like this, Danny had figured it was him early on; it was kind of obvious when he heard his snickering every time Danny leapt to his feet to deal with the 'threat'.

It was the lack of giggling that was making Danny reconsider his supposed culprit. Youngblood _couldn't_ hold his laughter this long.

So who was it? And why were they annoying him? Better yet, how long did they plan on doing this?

It was only the end of third period and already it had happened five times. If whoever it was kept it up all day then Danny might kill something.

Danny was standing alone in the empty locker room, still dripping water from the shower he had just turned off. As per usual he had waited until everyone else had finished before changing and showering, so he knew he was and would continue to be alone.

"Okay," he spoke in annoyance, his voice breaking the silence, "this is getting irritating. Just come out to fight or knock it off and leave. Do the last and I swear I won't kick your ass for pissing me off."

He waited for some sort of answer, but hot none. This only took his irritation and sent it evolving into anger.

"Seriously," Danny continued, voice taking on an extremely frustrated tone, "would you just quit it and leave me alone!"

Still nothing and now Danny's temper was really rising.

Everything about this day sucked, and how dare some stupid, random ghost to and make it that much worse by doing this stupid cat and mouse game?

Danny didn't even realize as the faint green glow started around his hands. He was too bust fuming.

"Fine," Danny spoke once more, turning to head back to where his clothes were sitting on one of the benches, "I'm going to take the silence as a you understand and will never do it again."

Just as he finished speaking, the ghost –whoever it was- decided to contradict his decision' another puff of blue mist shot out of his mouth.

The anger that had been simmering exploded.

"_ENOUGH_!" Danny cried…and without meaning to, wailed.

The sound of his ghostly wait coming out of his mouth, especially when it wasn't something he was meaning to do, surprised him. Not only was it unexpected, but _strong_…

Strong enough to lift Danny clear off of his feet and propel him backwards before he even realized what was happening. When he finally did, he slammed his mouth shut and cut off his wail abruptly.

The wall came up at him before he could catch and stop himself midair. Before he could even consider what he was doing, Danny's instincts took over the minute he made contact with the wall. Instead of allowing impact, his body phased through…and out of the locker room entirely.

When he landed, Danny managed to do it on his feet and somewhat gracefully. He stood there a moment, head whirling about what had just happened.

Why had he wailed? He hadn't meant to. Let alone with that much power.

A moment later the sound of something dropping pulled Danny out of his mind, and he whirled around, fighting stance ready.

Instead of a ghost, Danny found himself standing in front of a crowded hallway. With only a towel around his narrow hips. After phasing through a wall.

Shit.

He couldn't stop a blush from turning his cheeks red as he looked around at all the wide eyed faces. All of whom were focused on his obviously scarred body.

Up front was the reporter from earlier, and instead of shock she looked curious. Danny could just see the questions beginning to form in her mind.

Oh fuck.

l.l.l

An- Hope you all enjoyed! I think I'll be able to get at least one more chapter out before the end of summer, but I make no promises. This is my last week of work and then have two before I have to move again. I should have another chapter written by then, but again- no promises! Don't forget to leave me a review! Peace, love & rainbows!!


	10. Chapter 10

An- Would you look here! A new chapter and out fairly quickly! What can I say, I got all inspired. It's a bit longer than the last chapter too (a whole 23 pages written out) Hopefully you enjoy it!

Chapter Ten

The silence that had seemed to envelope the hallway broke all at once. Voices took up all at once, drowning out most of what others were saying, but Danny could pick up pieces.

There were a lot of 'Oh my Gods' and 'What just happened'. From a few people he heard something along the lines of 'How did he do that' and those made his stomach clench.

Then finally, above all other voices, one very loud, displeased one cried.

"Clan of the Cave Bear Mr. Fenton! Back into the locker room now!"

Danny had never been so glad to hear Lancer's voice before. He'd probably get punished for this stunt, but the teacher's command was enough to break Danny's paralysis, which was caused by both mortification and a type of fear.

How was he going to explain this one?

With a blush staining his face and turning it near apple red, Danny gripped his towel to his waist tightly, turned and scrambled towards the locker room. In his haste Danny forgot to put on his 'I'm still an awkward, clumsy teen' act.

By the time he stepped back into the locker room and slammed the door shut behind him, the laughter had started.

That's it. He was never leaving this locker room again. No power on heaven or earth could get him out of here to face this new embarrassment.

"Mr. Fenton! Are you dressed yet? Come to my office!"

…Except that.

With a groan Danny returned to the pile of his clothes and began to pull them on. He went as slow as humanly possible, drawing this out as long as he could. The longer he took in here, the better the chances that the crowds in the hallway had already moved onto the cafeteria.

When he was finally fully dressed and could put leaving off no longer, Danny made his way to the door. He considered going ghost and making with an escape, but he nixed that idea for many reasons.

First off, if he was going to get in trouble for this already, running off would make it worse. Hopefully he wouldn't get in trouble in the first place. He was also hoping this particular incident didn't get back to his parents for the second reason he couldn't just run away…

He had phased through a wall. There was no way in denying that; he had come through a solid wall and said wall had no holes in it from his body. There was no _way_ he wanted his parents to find out that tidbit of information.

And the third reason he couldn't run? The fact that he had phased through a wall was strange enough. If he disappeared into thin air right that would go right from strange to suspicious.

So no, he had to brave the hallway and the students out there.

When he cracked open the door an inch, Danny was dismayed to see that there were still as many students (and quite a few teachers) out there. They seemed to be just hanging around, and he took that to mean they were just waiting around for him to exit so they could begin with the ridicule.

Danny closed the door again and took a deep breath, preparing himself to go out and face the hoards.

He had faced down dangerous ghosts such as Vald Plasmius, Pariah Dark and an evil alternate future version of himself, and yet here he was scared to face his peers.

If he hadn't been so embarrassed Danny probably would have chuckled at that.

He took another deep breath, opened the door fully and stepped into the hall. The moment it was noticed he was there the laughter, cat calls and wolf whistles started.

Keeping his renewed flaming face trained on the ground, Danny made a beeline for Lancer's office. He made it there in record time. When he was inside he slammed the door shut and leaned against it. He took a moment to collect himself before he turned around to face Mr. Lancer.

The teacher was sitting behind his desk, clearly waiting for Danny to get there. Danny was surprised to see that, instead of the anger he was expecting, there was concern on Lancer's face.

He gestured for Danny to sit and waited until he was before he spoke.

"Mr. Fenton, care to tell me what happened?"

Danny thought for a moment, and when a possible explanation popped into his mind, he ran with it.

"There was a…ghost attack! In the locker room! A ghost attacked me! And it, umm…drug me through the wall! Because ghosts can do that!"

Lancer was looking at him with raised eyebrows. Danny held his breath, praying that the teacher would take his lie at face value.

"Where was the ghost?" Lancer asked, though there was no real suspicion in his voice, "we all saw you come through the wall, but no ghost."

"Well," Danny fumbled for another lie, "I didn't see one either. I mean, I just felt something grab me and then BAM! I was flying through a wall. Literally."

Lancer nodded, and Danny thought he may just be out of the woods. Then Lancer spoke again.

"This being Casper High, I'm more than willing to believe you. Ghosts have done stranger things around here. What happened, as mortifying as it is to you I'm sure, isn't why I called you in here."

Danny breathed a sigh of relief "So I'm not going to get in trouble?"

"No Danny, you're not. Since you're not a superhero who can walk through walls," Danny barely contained his grimace at that, "I'm inclined to believe that it wasn't your fault. I have something else I feel is more important; because of your, umm, state of undress at the time, there were some things that came to my notice."

Danny held his breath. Damnit! In his worry about trying to explain the phasing he had forgotten all about the scars that were peppered across his upper body.

How the hell was he going to explain this one?

"Danny," Mr. Lancer said slowly, "all of those scars. Many of them look to be from serious injuries. Where did you get them?"

For the life of him, Danny didn't know what to say. The barbed wire excuse wouldn't fly with Lancer, that much Danny was sure of.

He struggled to come up with an excuse that would make all of this seem like not so much of a big deal.

The longer he took, the more concerned Mr. Lancer was looked. The more concerned Lancer looked, the more panicky Danny got. Which was making thinking up excuses even more difficult.

"Danny," Mr. Lancer asked softly, "are you being abused?"

Danny was stunned. Never, _never_ would he ever have imagined that question being asked.

"_What_?" he asked, horrified that anyone could assume that, "No! Jesus Christ no! How can you even _ask_ that?"

"I'm sorry Danny," Lancer's voice was apologetic and yet still firm, "but how can I _not_ ask that? Not only our of concern, but by law I have to report any suspected cases of abuse."

"I'm not being abused!" Danny cried, plain and simple fear coursing through him, "God, my parents could _never_ do that!"

What would happed if Lancer did report him? Would they take him away and shove him in come sort of foster home? What would happen then? God, what would that do to his parents? And it'd be his fault…he could he live with that guilt?

"After meeting them I'd have to agree with you Mr. Fenton," Lancer continued, clearly looking at him in compassion, "strange as your parents may be, it is quite clear that they love you. Then I have to ask, what caused all those scars? Is it someone here at school?"

"No…" Danny was nearly panicking now, "it's…it's just like today! Ghosts…sometimes ghosts decide to target me. Probably because my parents are ghost hunters. Most of the time it's only stupid prank-like things. But I'm so clumsy, and I get hurt sometimes. But not all of the time, and it's really not that bad! Really!"

He was babbling, but Danny didn't care; he had to convince Lancer that his injuries weren't serious. He had to convince him not to tell anyone about this.

"Danny," Lancer interrupted Danny's hurried explanation, "please breathe. You're nearly hyper ventilating," he let Danny take a number of deep breaths before he continued, "so let me get this straight; you sometimes are targeted by ghosts because they want to get back at your parents?"

_Damnit_, Danny though as he heard his explanation told back to him_, that doesn't sound all that much better. _

"But it's not that bad…"

"The scars on your body say otherwise Mr. Fenton. No matter how you explain it, it still sounds as though you're constantly put in danger because of your parents profession."

How could he argue against that? There was no way out of this. Even if he told the truth that he was Danny Phantom, it still looked bad on his parents.

Not only did he get physically injured because on an invention that his parents made and left on, they went four years without realizing that anything was wrong.

"Do your parents know?"

"No," Danny whispered, "I don't want them to worry…"

Mr. Lancer was silent for a long time, and every moment seemed to take a lifetime to Danny. All he could do was wait and pray that Lancer wouldn't choose to do something that would ruin his life.

Danny would understand if he did; it would show how good of a person Lancer was and how compassionate he was…how much he really cared. Danny almost wouldn't blame him.

"Not telling your parents that there is danger to you is unfair to them," Lancer finally spoke, "and quite honestly, even more dangerous to you. Your parents are ghost hunters- they'll have some sort of anti- ghost invention that will help keep you safe."

"You're not gonna tell?" Danny asked in a small, scared voice.

He hated sounding so weak, but he was terrified of the possibility of being taken away from his family.

"Not anyone outside of the situation," the teacher assured him, "as long as you promise me that you'll tell your parents. As far as I'm considered, they are the best ones best equipped to protect you."

_Oh thank God_, Danny breathed a deep sigh of relief as the tension flowed out of his body.

Tell his parents this current lie? Sure. No problem whatsoever. He could do that and deal with whatever fallout there may be. He'd survive. Having to find his way around their protection via anti-ghost methods might be tricky, but he'd find a way around it. He had in the past.

Danny was nodding vigorously, easily agreeing.

"I will be calling your parents later tonight to confirm that you've spoken to them," Mr. Lancer warned him, "but until then I think it best if you take the rest of the afternoon off. Give yourself time to collect yourself and figure out exactly how you want to tell your parents. Take Mr. Foley and Ms. Manson with you if you think it'll help. I'll speak to your teachers."

Danny's jaw had literally dropped at this new development. He had to be hearing things. Mr. Lancer could not have just given not only him but Sam and Tucker permission to skip school.

"Believe it or not Mr. Fenton," he responded dryly, "I do remember what it is like to be a teenager having to face their parents with bad news. Besides, I really doubt that you wish to face the student body at the moment after your revealing little show."

The blush was back at the semi amusement that was shining in Lancer's eyes. He was also very, very correct.

"Now go tell Ms. Manson and Mr. Foley, who are undoubtedly waiting nervously for you just outside he door, that I'm giving you permission to leave."

"Thank you Mr. Lancer," Danny replied softly and sincerely.

He got to his feet and strode towards the door. Lancer's voice stopped him just as his hand circled the knob.

"Remember Danny, I will be calling tonight."

Danny gave a quick nod before opening the door and stepping out.

Lancer had been right about Sam and Tucker waiting outside, because the moment he closed the door they pounced.

"Dude, what _happened_?"

"Danny are you alright?"

He didn't want to answer their questions just yet, not with his mind still spinning. At the moment all he wanted to do was get out of there.

"Hold up for a minute guys," he held up a hand to silence them, "for awhile actually. Lancer said we can take off for the rest of the day and I _really_ want to get out of here."

Sam and Tucker looked just as astounded about Lancer letting them leave news as he had been.

"Shocking I know," Danny couldn't help but chuckle at their stunned expressions, "but true. So let's get out of here before I run into anyone else. The last thing I want right now is a round of teasing.

l.l.l.l.l

Not surprisingly, they ended up at the Nasty Burger. Danny held off telling them what was wrong until they got there. They could tell by his subdued manner that it wasn't anything good. Only after they had ordered their food and sat down did Danny begin.

"I was in the locker room when my ghost sense went off for the fifth time. I was getting sick of it and told whatever ghost it was to screw off. I was just getting so pissed at being played with, and when it went off again, I snapped and yelled. Except it wasn't just a yell…I wailed. I didn't mean to, and it was freaking strong. I mean strong enough to lift me off the ground and propel me backwards a good ten feet. I was heading for the wall and phased through it. God knows I should have just let myself hit it, but instinct had me phasing."

"Well we had already decided that you didn't phase into the hallway mostly naked because you thought it was a great idea."

Tucker's attempt to lighten the mood was appreciated even though it wasn't working. It would take a hellva lot more than that to put Danny in a better mood at the moment.

"So your powers went wonky again?" Sam asked, concern in her voice.

"Yep," Danny replied, "just like with Val and Skulker."

"We have to figure out why that's happening," Sam decided, even though that had already been agreed upon.

Danny gave a nod at that one, agreeing completely.

"What about Lancer?" Tucker asked, "How much trouble you in?"

"None," Danny replied, and his friends looked a little surprised at that, "or not trouble per say."

He took a deep breath and prepared to finish this part of the story. Tucker and Sam waited.

"I told him a ghost hauled me through a wall and he believed me. That really wasn't why he called me in there. He saw my scars because of my naked state and wanted to ask me about them. He…he asked me if my parents were abusing me."

Sam's eyes widened until they were the size of saucers and Tucker's jaw dropped open.

"_What_?"

They both spoke the word at the same time and with equal tones of shock. They were reacting with the same amount of disbelief that Danny first had.

"I get why he had to ask," Danny replied, "I really do. That's the simplest conclusion right? But good God was I terrified when he asked me that. Then I thanked God even more when Lancer believed me what I said no."

"Then what? How did you explain it?"

"I said things like the ghost phasing me through the wall happen a lot. As in ghosts target me for pranks on occasions. I said that it happens because of my parents, which wasn't my brightest plan either.

"Lancer said that he wouldn't call anyone if I told my parents what's happening. It'll make my double life all that much harder, but it's infinitely better than the alternative."

"How much will you tell them?" Sam asked.

"For now just the newest lie," Danny replied, "and decide what to do from there. I'll take it as far as I have to, even if it means telling my parents altogether. I almost did it the other day, and if I need to I can do it."

Sam looked extremely impressed with him, and Danny smiled a little. He liked it when Sam was proud of him.

Then another thought abruptly shoved itself into his brain and the panic hit him all over again.

"Oh my God," he spoke up, "what if someone else noticed all those scars and jumps to the same conclusion? What if they mention it to someone?"

Lancer would settle with the idea that his parents could keep him safe best, but that didn't mean anyone else would.

Sam mumbled some sort of reply that Danny couldn't make out. The somewhat embarrassed look on her face gave his panic pause. Tucker apparently heard what she said because a smirk took over his face.

"What?" Danny asked in confusion.

"I said," Sam replied, "the scars were the last thing most people noticed. Or so it sounded when you heard people talk about it afterwards."

"What were they saying?"

"Well you see Danny," Tucker spoke up in amusement, "there was another focus caused by your near nakedness. I say this in a completely straight way, but the topic of conversation is leaning towards how fine you look under all those baggy clothes."

"_What_?"

"Have you looked in the mirror lately Danny?" Sam asked, "you're very fit Danny, after all of that ghost hunting. And for the people who had no idea to expect that, it is shocking."

"And hot," Tucker added with a cheeky smirk, "at least that's the word in the hallway. Seems some of the ladies of Casper High have been revaluating your dateibility."

His panic forgotten, Danny beamed at this new knowledge. Yes he was still embarrassed and yes he was still worried, but boy did his ego just take a boost. He was still puffing when he noticed the look on Sam's face.

She was glaring at him, her face darkening. She looked mightily pissed off and only getting more so.

"Wow that's…different," Danny quickly back peddled, "but totally not important. If girls only like me because they think I look goof in a towel, then I don't want to date them. Seriously."

Tucker opened his mouth to give a sarcastic comment, probably about how stupid that logic was. Danny kicked him under the table, willing him to keep his mouth shut for once. Out of the corner of his eye Tucker noticed Sam's stormy face, nodded quickly and wisely keep his comment to himself.

"Good," Sam spoke, still sounding irritable, "because if they only want you because you look good without a shirt on then they're not worth it."

As confusing as it tended to be, Danny really didn't mind all that much when Sam acted all jealous. He thought it was kind of cute actually. Not that he'd ever tell her that.

"So you agree with them then?" Tucker pounced right on it when he saw the opening to tease Sam, "about Danny looking good without a shirt?"

The blush that stained Sam's cheeks was instantaneous as her face took on a deer in headlights look. Tucker was snickering and Sam threw him a glare that promised retribution.

"Well," she said slowly, measuring her words, "like I said, you _are _super fit…"

"Thanks Sam," Danny took pity on her and cut her off to stop her explanation.

Sam almost sighed in relief. She was going to kill Tucker. In a very painful manner.

"Anyway, back to the subject at hand," Sam's voice was forceful, meaning there would be no more changing of the subject she was introducing, "how do you plan to tell-"

Sam's voice cut off abruptly, leaving Danny confused. She was looking over his shoulder, her gaze mistrusting. Tucker was staring a moment later, a similar emotion raising in his eyes.

"Guts what-" Danny began, but was cut off when a woman's voice spoke up from behind him.

"Shouldn't the three of you be in school?"

It took a moment for him to recognize the woman's voice, but when he did Danny groaned silently. When he turned around in his seat he saw that he was correct and that it was the reporter from earlier who was standing there.

"What do you want?" Danny snarled irritably.

He was so not in the mood for this right now.

"Someone's touchy," she remarked, too much amusement in her voice. Not only amusement, but mocking amusement.

Danny was just about to snap at her when Sam's calm voice spoke up.

"Excuse me, and you are?"

"Oh, did I forget to introduce myself earlier?" she turned her attention to Sam for a brief moment before looking back to Danny, "I'm Tara Maclay. A reporter," the last part was added for Sam and Tucker's benefit.

Sam filled that name away so that she could remember it later. One of the first things that could do to figure out what was going on was find out if this woman was really a reporter or not. All it would take was one quick internet search to figure out the answer to that one."

"Remember I said there was a reporter asking about my project earlier? This is her."

Danny was having a hard time keeping his words civil. All he wanted to do was tell Tara Maclay to screw off.

"Quite a show you put on earlier," Tara remarked, her voice nonchalant, "the only people I've ever seen go through a wall like that are ghosts."

Tucker and Sam stilled across from him, but Danny had already seen this question coming and he was prepared for it. He was able to reply right away without any sort of suspicion.

"Well there was a ghost. It grabbed hold of me and dragged me through a wall for the student body to see."

"I didn't see any ghost."

"Well I guess it stayed invisible. Either way, it took me through the stupid wall. How else would it be possible for me to pass through it?"

Tara gave a nod, but Danny could tell from the look in her eyes she wasn't completely buying it. When she spoke again, it was with another question.

"So why'd it do it anyway? What was the point?"

Here's where the story he gave to Lancer was going to change.

"How should I know? It's not like I got a chance to ask what it was doing in the whole five seconds it bad hold of me. Maybe it was in a prank mood and I was the only naked one in the locker room at the time."

"Wow, you're awfully defensive about this," was another off hand remark thrown his way.

"Look," Danny snapped, "I just appeared naked in front of my entire school. Excuse me if I really don't want to talk about it."

"You know what," Sam spoke up suddenly, "we have to go. We have other plans."

Tucker was up on his feet and hauling Danny onto his before he could get a word in. Sam took hold of his arm and led him out of the Nasty Burger, walking about ten times the speed they normally did.

What the hell? Not that Danny was complaining, because he was more than happy to get out of there, but what was with the abrupt and rushed exit?

"Umm guys," he asked, "why are we almost running?"

Only when they were well past the parking lot did Sam and Tucker let him stop.

"Dude, your eyes were flashing!"

"What?" Again, Danny was confused.

"Your eyes were going between green and blue," Sam explained, "we had to get you out of there before she really noticed."

Danny was surprised; he had had no idea that that was happening.

"The longer it went on, the worse it was getting," Tucker continued Sam's explanation, "you were about one of her questions away from blowing your cover."

"Thanks guys," Danny thanked them sincerely, "I didn't even realize that I was doing it."

"We figured that one out." Tucker replied.

"You're usually better at keeping your cool than that," Sam spoke, and from anyone else but it might have sounded scolding.

"I know," he admitted, "but today has been a day from hell and her questions were just pissing me off. Plus there's just something about her that puts me on edge."

"I understand that," Sam replied, "I feel the same way. Maybe she's lying? She'd not the only sketchy person asking around about ghosts after all. It'll be easy to check out; Tucker can search for her online tonight, see if she's actually a reporter or not."

"Speaking of sketchy people asking questions about ghosts," Tucker's voice spoke up, "look who's here."

Danny followed Tucker's line of sight and after a moment he realized he was watching the two school board members walking into a hotel that was across the street.

_Oh great_, Danny began to think, but then remembered his plan to trail the two of them.

This was the perfect opportunity. He made up his mind in a split second.

"I'm going in," he told his friends abruptly.

"What?" Sam questioned immediately, "Bad idea!"

"We already agreed that it was a good idea," Danny reminded her.

"Yeah, but after we did lots of recon and took time to plan," Tucker said, clearly agreeing with Sam's do it plan.

"Guys, this opportunity is perfect! I need to get answers, and they're quite possibly right across the street. I can't afford not to do this. I need to find out what's going on."

"But what if they are GIW like we thing?" Sam argued, "they'll most likely have some sort of anti-ghost devices somewhere. They may be incompetent, but the technology they use is just fine Danny!"

"It'll be in and out," he assured them, "snoop for a few minutes and get out of there. I'm not giving to take unnecessary chances!"

"This whole thing is unnecessary!" Sam was far from finished with her arguments, "we'll get another chance to do this Danny, just gives us time to make a plan."

"Here's the plan," Danny's voice was firm, "I go in now and see what I can find out. I don't stay long, and if I'm not out in half an hour then assume their anti ghost devices worked. Then I leave it up to you to figure out an escape plan."

Now his friends were looking worried and Danny realized that talking about the need for escape plan had no helped reassure them in anyway."

"I'll be fine guys," he assured them, "and if I want to catch them, I gotta go now. Don't worry."

He didn't give them another chance to argue, because the moment he finished his words he ducked behind a car, transformed, went invisible and took off into the sky.

From the ground below he could hear Sam's frustrated voice bitching him out, and he grimaced a little. He'd have to listen to her bitching later, but as long as he got some information he needed, he'd be alright with that.

He passed into the building and was relieved that the two of them, who were named Erin and Edward he recalled randomly, were still in the lobby of the hotel. Good. That meant that he wouldn't have to search every room for them.

They were waiting at the front desk, Erin leaning against it and tapping her fingers impatiently while Edward went through some papers that were in his hand.

Danny floated down next to them, and came to find out if any messages had been left for them. The woman behind the desk was shuffling through a pile of sticky pad size note paper. A moment later she held one up with an 'Aha!' and handed it over.

"Just as I thought," she said cheerfully, "one message."

Erin took a message, read it over and passed it over to Edward. He read it over just as quickly and stuffed it in between some of the papers he was still holding,

"Thank you," Erin replied as she and her partner walked away.

Danny trailed after them. The two of them were silent across the lobby. And the entire elevator ride to the third floor. And then down the hallway that led to their room. It wasn't until the door of their room closed firmly behind them did either of them say a word. It was Erin who did.

"I'll make the call."

She strode towards the bed, sat down on it and picked up the phone that rested on the bedside table. She dialled a number and then waited.

Danny floated above her, fingers crossed that he was about to hear something of importance.

"Hello sir," she spoke after a few seconds, her tone all business, "McNeil here."

Well that certainly sounded very government agent.

"Yes sir," she spoke again after a pause, "we've finished," another pause, "we could not get a hundred percent confirmation, but we are both ready to agree the with initial assessment," pause again, "yes sir. We can have the file over tomorrow morning. It should be ready for tomorrow night," pause number four, "yes, the other project seems to be going fine. Nothing substantial to report yet, or so we're told, but it is only the first day," a longer pause this time, "yes sir, we'll have them contact you immediately," with this pause she threw an amused glance over at her partner, "yes sir, they do have the situation under _control_."

Danny saw Edward give an amused chuckle and knew that that last part was some sort of inside joke he had no chance of understanding.

"Goodbye sir," the phone was hung up and she turned towards Edward.

"What are our orders now?" he asked her.

"We're being moved over to help team beta. We have to go see them now."

Why did these people always have to speak in code? They were alone…why couldn't they talk like normal people?

As Danny watched them exit the room, he knew he didn't have time to follow them. He had promised Sam and Tucker he'd get out of there quick. Plus he still had to get hom and have a long talk with his parents before Lancer called.

He had come here for answers but now Danny was left with even more questions. Forefront in his mind was what was this second project, and how bad was it going to turn out for him?

l.l.l.

An- So what did you all think? Leave me a review and let me know of course! There won't be another chapter out for awhile because I move in a few days and a few days after that school starts. I'll have to get back into the swing of things before I can really star writing again. I'm aiming for the end of September. As usual I make no promises, but I'll see what I can do. See you then! Peace, Love & Rainbows!


	11. Chapter 11

An- Hey all! So this is coming to you later than I had wanted, but inspiration hit me elsewhere and my muse wouldn't shut up until I got some words down on paper. On a side note, I want to say to any of my fellow Canadians who are readers, I hope you had a great Thanksgiving (it was Monday, for you non Canadians). On with the story!

Chapter Eleven

Sam was still fuming five minutes after Danny disappeared.

"Argh! He can't afford to be careless right now! What happens if he gets caught because he rushed in there half cocked!"

Tucker almost replied with 'we go in and rescue him', but knew that was not an answer that would calm Sam down.

"You're right," it was easy to say because he agreed with her a hundred percent, "he should have waited."

"And where is he? He said in and out! It's been five minutes already!"

Tucker couldn't believe it, but it seemed as though he was going to be the calm one in this situation. Right now he appeared to be the voice of reason. Was that a role reversal or what?

"Five minutes isn't that long. Don't stress yourself yet."

It didn't matter that Tucker was just as worried as she was, or that he agreed that five minutes was long. What mattered was calming Sam down so she didn't kill Danny when he got back.

"Why couldn't he have just waited?" now there was no longer anger in Sam's voice. It was tinged with worry and frustration.

Tucker was about to reply when he caught movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned back towards the hotel, hoping maybe it was Danny coming back out. It wasn't Danny who was walking out the front doors, but the two people he had followed in. As the two walked out the door and made a left turn down the street, he waited for Danny to follow them out. As seconds ticked by and his friend didn't appear, true worry began to build up in the pit of Tucker's stomach.

"Tucker," Sam's voice sounded almost strained, "Where is he? Should we go in?"

Tucker thought about that before answering.

"If they had caught Danny they wouldn't be leaving. We'd see a bunch of people rushing in, not the two of them casually strolling out. Danny must be snooping around somewhere now that they left."

Sam must have picked up Danny's impulsive mood from earlier, because the next words out of her mouth shocked him.

"Let's follow them."

"_What_?"

"Follow them," Sam repeated, "like Danny did, only see where they're going now."

"Sam," Tucker replied in disbelief, "we don't have ghost powers to make that feasible. If they're agents they'll notice they're being trailed."

"We'll stay at a distance," Sam dismissed his concerns with a wave of her hand, "I only want to see where they're going. We've done it before."

What the hell? Since when did Sam just jump into a plan like this? Especially since she had just been cursing Danny for doing the exact same thing.

"We should wait for Danny," Tucker tried to argue, but she really didn't care.

"Let him worry for once," she replied flatly, "come on. We're going to lose sight of them."

So that's what it was; Sam was in a let's show Danny how it feels mood. He hated it when she got petty like this, because there was no stopping her.

Like how she had already started rushing away from him, going down the street the two suspected agents had gone down.

"Damnit Sam!" he cursed.

He thought about waiting here and waiting for Danny to get back, but then dismissed it; if Danny came back and Tucker was still there, he would freak that he had let Sam go off on her own.

With another curse Tucker took off after her. She had slowed down, walking at a normal pace and keeping close to the buildings that lined the street. To Tucker it was clear that she was attempting to be as inconspicuous as possible, but no one else noticed her. He fell in step beside her, taking her lead in the 'let's try to stay out of sight as much as possible' department.

He saw the two people up ahead, far enough that they could keep track of them but not be instantly noticed if they should turn around. Thankfully there were quite a few other people on the street, which made Tucker and Sam even less obvious.

After ten minutes of walking Tucker was beginning to think that the entire thing was pointless. So far all they had done was walk down the street, making no turns or stops of any kind. The woman had pulled out a cell phone and had a brief conversation a minute or two ago, but Tucker and Sam were too far away to hear the words spoken.

"Sam-" Tucker turned to her, ready to suggest just turning back, but Sam's semi excited voice cut him off.

"They turned odd and went into that building!"

Tucker turned to look again in time to see the man step through the door of a building. It took Tucker a moment to realize that it was a coffee shop they had entered.

"Come on," Sam pulled onto his arm and picked up their pace.

"Um Sam, what if they're just having coffee?"

"What if they're not?" Sam countered as they reached the shop, stopping before they stood in front of the window that took up a large part of the store front, "we take a quick peek in the window to see what they're doing. We move fast so they don't see us looking in."

"Yes Sam," Tucker replied, knowing he had no choice but to obey.

"Let's do it," Sam spoke, and then the two of them shot to the window to look inside.

As soon as Tucker saw the two possible agents and what they were doing he knew there would be some 'I told you sos' from Sam.

They were sitting at one of the tables that were backed against the far wall, and there was a third person sitting there with them. Tucker recognized that person right away, and just before Sam pulled him away from the window Tucker saw the man hand this new woman a fat looking file folder.

"Wasn't that-" Tucker asked once they were away from the glass, needing confirmation despite the fact he knew the answer.

"The reporter who was bugging Danny," Sam gave the expected answer.

Tucker groaned, knowing that the three of them working together was not a good thing. Especially since the reporter was poking around about Phantom and hadn't appeared to buy Danny's 'a ghost pushed me through a wall' story.

He wished he could find out what was in that file folder. It would probably hold most, maybe all, of the answers they were looking for.

"Come on," Sam spoke up again, "we have to tell Danny."

l.l.l.l

By the time Danny finished doing a fairly quick search of the hotel room, nearly fifteen minutes had passed. He was still invisible even as he shuffled through papers, but he found nothing useful. They must have kept anything of importance on them.

He had struck out, and he had stayed here later than he had wanted. Sam and Tucker were going to be happy, especially about that last part.

_Damn_, Danny thought as he flew out of the building.

As he drew closer to where he had left Sam and Tucker standing, Danny realized with a start that they weren't there. He looked around for them, staying in the air to get a better look.

He didn't see them, and that left him worried.

Where had they gone?

_Maybe they decided to go back into the Nasty Burger_, Danny decided.

He took a quick glance inside, and what his friends weren't there.

_What the hell_? Danny thought as he returned to the place he had left them.

Would they have just upped and left? Danny would normally say no, but right now he wasn't so confident of that answer. They had been mad at him, but they wouldn't leave, not when there was such a strong possibility of him getting into some serious danger.

If they had gotten to the point that they thought he had gotten into trouble and needed help, one of them would have stayed for sure. Sam would have sent Tucker off running for help or weapons and waited here in case Danny either came out or there was something she could do. Sam wouldn't leave him alone.

Could they have been captured by someone? Maybe other agents had come and saw them hanging around? But that didn't make sense either; the two of them would have been in the Nasty Burger parking lot. There was nothing suspicious about two teenagers standing in the Nasty Burger parking lot. And there was no way they could have been drug off. Not only was it the middle of the day, but neither would have gone silently. Sam would fight like a hellcat and Tucker had a very loud, very high pitched scream. Someone would have noticed.

So where the hell were they?

He landed and, after ducking behind a car, transformed into Fenton. He stood there a moment, wondering what the hell he should do. Should he wait here for them? Start looking for them? Just leave and wait for them to get a hold of him?

He was still debating his course of action when a "Danny!" broke through his line of thought.

He turned his attention to the direction the call had come from, and to his relief saw Tucker and Sam rushing back towards him.

"You'll never guess what-" Tucker started, but Danny cut him off.

"Where did you two go?"

He couldn't help the feeling of anger that went through him when he realized that Sam and Tucker had just left. He was overjoyed that nothing had happened to them and that they were fine, but irritated that they had walked away.

What would have happened if he had needed their help in the time they had been gone? So much for worrying for his safety.

Sam picked up the underlining trace of anger in Danny's tone and her eyes narrowed at it. When she replied, her voice was bordering on cold.

"We saw those two leave the hotel and followed them. We wanted to see if we could find something out."

"You followed them?" Danny looked at Same in disbelief, "Just like that?"

"Yes."

"Are you insane!" Danny almost exploded.

"We did the exact same thing you did," Sam shot back.

"But I have ghost powers! I could be invisible! What would you have done id they had noticed you?"

"It's those ghost powers that made it more dangerous for you! If we got caught we're just a couple of kids acting out. You're a freaking half ghost! It's you they'd want, not us!"

"They met with that reporter!" Tucker blurted out abruptly, causing Danny to pause before he could make his next comment.

Tucker had realized that the argument between Danny and Sam was quickly reaching battle status, which was never pretty, and had decided that it was time to change the topic before it got to that point. So he threw out something that he knew would get their attention.

"What?" Danny asked, irritation momentarily forgotten.

"The two of them met with Tara Maclay," Tucker repeated, "that reporter who was asking you about Phantom. The three of them were having coffee and they gave her some sort of folder."

"That must be who they were talking about," Danny mumbled to himself.

"What?"

Danny quickly explained about the one sided telephone conversation he had overheard "Maclay must be team beta," Danny concluded, "and that must make the 'other project' something about Phantom. She was asking Paulina and I questions about him."

"What's in the file? Were you able to see that?" Sam asked.

"They never opened it," Danny replied, shaking his head, "all I got was the phone call."

"Maybe you can still catch her," Tucker suggested, "get to the coffee shop and follow her around."

Tucker's suggestion was met with a solid glare from Sam. He winced at it.

"I can't," Danny sighed, "I still have to go home and talk to my parents. That'll probably take awhile, and I want to be done before Lancer calls."

In their desire to track down the others, Sam and Tucker had completely forgotten why they were out of school early in the first place. From that moment that they had whisked Danny away from that reporter the incident at the school had slipped out of their minds. Now that the concern and worry they had felt about it came flying back.

"You want us to come with you?" Sam asked, "if you need us for moral support, we'll be there."

"Nah," Danny replied with a half grin, "I'll be fine. I can handle this on my own."

Sam didn't look completely convinced, but she didn't suggest it again.

The three of them had been walking towards Fenton Works as they had been talking. When they reached the point where Sam needed to take another direction, they paused again.

It was clear that Sam would have much rather continued on with him, but she still didn't repeat anything. Finally she spoke.

"Good luck Danny. Call me when you're done okay?"

She seemed to hesitate for a moment before pulling him into a tight hug. Danny was stunned for a moment –it wasn't very often they hugged really-, but then he put his arms around her and held her tightly. She was a perfect fit, with her arms around his waist and her head resting in the crook of his neck. Danny just wished he could hold her this way more often.

It was the sound of Tucker clearing his throat that finally broke them apart. They let go of each other awkwardly, blushes lighting up their cheeks. Behind them, Tucker snorted.

"Right then," Danny spoke, "see you later. I'll call you."

Sam nodded and turned to leave. Before she could take more than a few steps Danny's arm shot out and he touched her shoulder. Sam stopped and looked back over her shoulder, eyebrows raised in question.

"Try not to worry okay?" he asked of her.

"Oh Danny," she replied with a small, soft smile, "I always worry about you."

With that she was gone, leaving Tucker and Danny standing there.

"That's it," Tucker announced, "if you don't ask her out soon then I'm going to do it for you."

From the tone of his voice, Danny knew Tucker was serious.

"No you won't," Danny warned, "otherwise you'll find yourself phased into a locked room and left there."

Tucker just snorted and rolled his eyes at the threat. They had begun walking again, and Tucker changed the subject, knowing he'd get nothing more out of Danny.

"So, you figure out your Halloween costume yet?"

"Um well," Danny hesitantly answered, rubbing the back of his neck, "I did have this idea, and it's one I can throw together myself. All I have to do is hit the used clothing store, and it won't cost that much, so no big dent in my car fund."

"Okay, what is it?"

Danny just knew that Tucker was going to laugh.

"I got my idea when we watched that movie with Sam the other night."

"Sweeny Todd?" Tucker asked him in disbelief, "you're going as Sweeny Todd? Man, I thought you said that movie was stupid."

"Well it is," Danny replied, dreading his friend's answer when he gave his reasoning, "but the costume _was_ pretty cool. Not to mention Sam said…"

A mischievous smirk lit up Tucker's face "And Sam said she thought it was hot," Tucker finished for him, "dude, you have it bad."

_That's it_, Tucker thought to himself, _next time I see Val we're discussing ways to finally get them together_.

"Shut up Tucker," Danny growled half heartedly, "what about you? What are you going as?"

"A pirate," Tucker answered with a smirk, "ladies love pirates."

"Let Val hear you're trying to impress multiple ladies and you'll more than likely lose a limb."

"I meant Val," Tucker's voice was a little sheepish, "Val likes pirates. Pirates of the Caribbean is one of her favourite movies."

Danny snorted "And you said I have it bad."

Tucker just shrugged, knowing there was no argument he could make.

Finally they got to the part where they had to part company.

"Good luck dude," Tucker told him before walking away, "call me after you call Sam."

With Tucker gone Danny began to feel a sense of panic building up. He _hated_ conversations like this, especially when this would be the second one in under a week.

Intellectually he knew that his parents would love and support him no matter what, but that didn't stop the inkling of doubt that was always at the back of his mind.

Despite whatever image his super hero self put fourth, Danny wasn't an overly confident guy. He wasn't insecure exactly, but he had his moments. Some things brought out his self conscious side, and the issue of his parents finding out about his ghost half was right at the top of that list, right after anything that had to do with his feelings for Sam.

When he reached his house he didn't pause, knowing it would only give him more time to panic. The more he thought about it, the more his nerves would get the best of him.

His parents were in the kitchen, Dad sitting at the table eating while his mother sat tinkering with what looked like a new gadget.

"Hi sweetie," Maddie spoke up when she noticed him walk in. Then she glanced over at the clock on the microwave and frowned a little, "you're home early."

"Yeah," he replied as he sat down across from his parents, "Mr. Lancer let me leave early," at seeing the looks on his parents' faces he hastened to add, "but I'm not in trouble!"

"Well that's good to hear!" Jack spoke up.

"So I have to talk you guys. I know you're probably going to freak, but I ask you to please remain calm and we can discuss this logically and rationally."

"What are you talking about son?" Jack's voice held its usual tone of obliviousness, "we're always calm and rational."

Danny's eyebrows shot up at that, "Right. Of course you are."

Neither of his parents noticed his sarcasm.

_Right_, Danny thought as he took a mental deep breath, _here goes_.

"So something happened at school today-" he started, but was cut off by his father.

"I thought you said you weren't in trouble."

If it hadn't been for the fact that they were his parents Danny would have glared at them.

"I'm not in trouble," Danny repeated, "but something did happen. I was kinda um…attacked by a ghost…"

It only took two seconds before his parents reacted.

"What!"

"That spook won't get away with this!"

"It really wasn't am attack per say," Danny rushed to explain, "more like a practical joke. A _harmless_ practical joke. All it did was make me intangible and pull me through a wall so I was in the hallway in nothing but a towel. Nothing big."

He was trying for nonchalant, but it wasn't working. His parents weren't even really listening to him anymore. Instead they were making plans to install anti ghost devices through out the school to catch the ghost that had 'tried to hurt their baby'.

"Umm…it's not the first time it's happened."

That got his parent's attention. At their stunned silence, Danny continued.

"It's not like it happens a lot! Sometimes ghosts decide to ah, play pranks on me. It's not really a big deal…"

"Why would they do such a thing?" Maddie managed to ask.

"I don't know," Danny lied through his teeth, "but maybe because you guys are ghost hunters? The ghosts think that it's a way to get back at you without causing too much trouble…"

He watched the horror dawn on their faces and cringed. He didn't want to cause them any sort of pain, and that bit of false speculation was going to. Yet it was honestly easier all around to let them believe this lie over the truth.

"Oh Danny…"Maddie whispered, and he was sure he could see tears in the corners of her eyes.

"It's where you got those scars isn't it?" Jack realized in a moment of clarity, "there was no barb wire was there?"

Danny nodded his head "it's not dangerous stuff, but sometimes it's a bit more…physical. It's mostly my own doing…you know how clumsy I am."

They didn't believe him on that count, but Danny hadn't expected them to.

"Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you to worry," at least that part was a hundred percent truth.

His parents were speechless for once, and Danny filled in the silence.

"Mr. Lancer's going to call later to make sure I talked to you. I guess he'll probably want to know how you plan to keep me safe. I'll go along with whatever you decide as long as it's not never leaving the house again or wearing some sort of hazmat like safety suit. I'll head up to my room and let you guys talk."

His parents didn't stop him as he left the kitchen and took the stairs that would lead him up to his room. He heard his parent's voices begin just as he entered his room, but he couldn't make out any of the words. That was just as well; he was just calming down now, and hearing whatever crazy plans his parents were making up wouldn't help. Whatever ideas they came up with would probably be hell on him trying to avoid.

He wondered if Jazz could talk to their parents. As that idea drifted through his mind Danny stopped short. The fact that he had told his parents he was constantly harassed by ghosts would probably make them wonder if their daughter was too.

_I should probably let Jazz know what's going on_, he decided as he sat down at his computer.

_Hey Jazz!_

_It seems that all my emails lately have been to warn you about something or give you some sort of dire news. This time it's a bit of both._

_First off my powers went all wonky again. I was in the locker room and my ghost sense went off (for the fifth time that day, and no ghosts showed up at those times). I finally just got pissed and yelled at it to knock it off, and it came out as a wait. One that picked me off of the ground and threw me into the wall. Like the idiot I am I phased through the wall and went into the hall with just a towel on. I'm scarred for life._

_Which leads to problem number two. Everyone saw my scars. Lancer called me into his office, and to make a long story short, I ended up telling him that ghosts sometimes play pranks on me because of Mom and Dad. Suffice to say, that didn't exactly turn out well. There was a lot of freaking (of the stunned silence variety, which you _know _is worse). They're down stairs now talking about ways to protect me._

_So I figure Mom'll call you, panicking that the same things have been happening to you. Figured you'd appreciate a warning beforehand, not to mention what the hell it's about. Do me a favour and try to down play the whole thing- the last thing I need is Mom and Dad packing me full of anti ghost devices._

_See you next weekend (and try not to worry about me too much)._

_Danny_

He contemplated telling her about the two 'agents' and the reporter, but then decided against it. He knew Jazz had school stuff at the moment –term paper and some midterms- and had to focus on those. If Danny mentioned all his troubles, his sister would be down here in an instant, school be damned. If anything else went wrong he'd get her to Amity Park, but until then he'd let her be.

Danny sent the email as it was, shut down his computer and went to call Sam.

l.l.l.l

The minute Danny walked into school he wished that he had pleaded sick and begged to stay home.

He had forgotten the part about the embarrassment factor about appearing in the hallway in a towel. He remembered it when the first person snickered at him.

That snicker seemed to draw the attention of the others in the space, and within a second all of said attention was on him. The first mock wolf whistle that sounded through the noisy hall caused a deep, hot blush to burn Danny's cheeks.

_Why me_? He couldn't help but moan in his mind.

He hightailed it to his locker, forcing himself to block out the teasing. If he just ignored them they'd stop. Probably. Maybe. At least he hoped so.

When he reached his locker Danny unloaded the books he didn't need and the half a dozen anti ghost weapons his parents had loaded onto him before he could walk out of his house.

The night before, after Lancer had finally called, his parents had called him back downstairs. They had sat in the same places as before, and the utmost serious expressions on his parent's faces almost made him cringe.

After Jack and Maddie had given him the obligatory 'we're disappointed you didn't come to talk to us' speech, they asked him what he thought should happen now.

To say Danny had been shocked was an understatement. His parents, who usually jumped into a plan with the don't give a damn what anyone else thinks attitude (especially when it concerned their children), were asking his opinion on the matter. Instead of just telling him what to do (what he had expected to happen), they were asking him what he wanted to do.

"You're a grown up Danny," Maddie had told him when she saw his surprised face, "it's only fair we treat you like one."

Danny had a suspicion that they had spoken to Jazz before him, because that sounded like very Jazz like advice. If that was the case, he's have to thank his sister later.

Danny knew he couldn't say that he'd prefer to leave everything the way it was; neither his parents nor Lancer would allow that.

"I guess you can give me some sort of ghost deflection thing…" he tentatively suggested, "a small one…"

They had argued over what would work best (at least his parents had. He had just sat there and listened). After twenty five minutes Danny had suggested letting him try out a few of them and see what one he liked best.

Another shock came when his parents readily agreed (though Jack still couldn't understand why Danny wanted small, not to wear some big, anti-ghost 'bling'). After Jack had excitedly explained the function of each of the devices, six of them had been packed into his book bag with a promise that he'd have at least one activated at all times when he was out of the house.

He made a show of taking all six, but the minute his father had finished explaining it Danny had known which one he was going to choose. It was called the oh so original Fenton Patch, and it was basically a tiny version of the Spectre Deflector (which was also in his back pack). It was a piece of medal, only a little bigger than a band aid, that stuck to skin like a stop smoking patch. It could be removed easily and would stop any and all ghosts from touching him. The part that make him choose it? It only worked if it was touching skin. If he had to go ghost all he would have to do was stick it in his jeans and he was good to go.

It was currently on his arm just above the end of the sleeves of his t-shirt. It was light and warmed to skin temperature, so it was easy to forget it was even there. All in all, it was perfect.

"Hi Danny."

The voice, spoken directly to his left, startled him. He turned and saw a blonde girl standing there, looking positively perky. He couldn't remember her name, but knew she was the eleventh grade's version of Paulina.

"Umm…hi," Danny replied, unsure about why the girl was talking to him.

The girl just ignored his very apparent confusion "I'm Anya, in case you didn't know."

"It's nice to meet you…"

"So I was wondering if, I don't know, you want to catch a movie or something."

Danny was floored. The girl was _hitting_ on him! He remembered that Sam had said his 'dateability' had gone up since the towel incident, but he hadn't expected it to actually do anything. Let alone get him asked out.

While he tried to think up a nice way to say no, a voice answered for him.

"Sorry girl, but you're not his type."

They both turned to find Val standing there, looking a cross between annoyed and amused.

"And you are?" the girl snarked back, giving Val the once over.

"Nope," was Val's answer, "Danny likes 'em pale, wearing lots of black and with a rebellious streak. You don't fit the bill."

"She's right," Danny hastened to add when it looked like Anya was going to say something, "sorry, I'm flattered, but…"

"He has a girlfriend," Val finished, to which Danny shot her a quick glare.

Valerie just shrugged her shoulders with a smirk.

"Fine," Anya's smile was forced now, and Danny felt bad, "sorry I bothered you."

"Thanks Val," Danny spoke after the girl was gone.

"It was nothing," Val shrugged, "you had that deer caught in the headlights look."

"I had no idea what to say," Danny admitted, "I'm always the one of the other side of that conversation."

"Glad to be of service," a wicked grin took over her face, "though I have to agree with the girl; if I had known what you looked like under those baggy clothes I might not have let you go so easy."

"Yeah well," Danny couldn't help but feel a bit sheepish, "I didn't look like that back then. I've been, ah, working out a lot more this past year or so."

"I'm just teasing," Val laughed, "I like how things turned out. I'm happy with Tucker, and if you'd ever get the stones to ask her out, you'd be happy with Sam. Though, you did look damn good in that towel."

He opened his mouth to reply, but a sudden thought struck him. Val was laughing and teasing him, which was normal, but she had yet to ask what had happened. Sure strange things happened at Casper High, but flying through a wall seemed like it should be cause for concern, especially from a friend.

"Um Val," he asked cautiously, "aren't you going to ask what happened?"

"Oh, Tucker told me last night when I called him."

For a moment Danny just stopped. That sentence was able to cause him a true sense of dread. What exactly had Tucker told her, and how much of it?

It was an issue that he and Tucker had yet to talk about, but Danny knew it would come up eventually; what to tell Valerie. If she and Tucker were going to continue to date, keeping secrets from her would be harder. Not only that, but it would be so much more unfair. Danny didn't want to ask his best friend to lie to his girlfriend on a regular basis, but what else could they do?

If it had been anyone else but Val Danny would have been for letting her in on the secret, but Valerie was also a ghost hunter who had tried to kill him. Repeatedly. Danny had enough faith in her to know that, if she ever found out, she'd stop trying to kill him. She'd be furious and they might never be friends again, but she wouldn't hurt him. Yet he didn't want to chance losing that friendship even as his logical mind told him that the longer he waited to tell her, the harder it would be when she found out. Val would be hurt even more.

It was like how he felt about his parents finding out.

"I mean," Val continued, "this is Amity Park- humans getting caught up in a ghost attack isn't that much of a surprise. Especially at the school. That place is a freaking ghost magnet. Leave it to you to be the one caught up in it."

Danny almost corrected her that it hadn't been an attack but a prank (as per the lie he had made up), but decided against it. For starters the explanation might cause Val to ask questions, and he wanted to avoid that. If anyone was ever going to figure out his secret by asking the right questions, it would be Valerie. Secondly, Val was determined to believe that all ghosts were evil, and an attack fit into that category more than a prank. It would take something big to shake her out of that mentality.

"I swear," Val was scowling now, "if I ever find out what ghost did this and I get my hands on them…"

Vengeful Val wasn't something Danny wanted around. It was never pretty.

"You'll what?" Danny asked, wondering what her answer would be.

Val's eyes widened when she realized what she was saying, and how close she was to hinting at her own secret. She knew exactly what she'd do to that ghost, but she couldn't believe she'd come so close to saying it out loud. She was usually so much more careful than that.

"Nothing," Val supplied quickly, "there's nothing I can do. I'd _like_ to do something to get back at the ghost that could have hurt you, but I can't. I mean, I'm, just a normal girl."

Val paused, wondering if Danny would see through her babbling. Danny did indeed see through it, but knew he wouldn't call her on it. She kept her secret guarded as fiercely as he did his.

"Thanks for the sentiment," he replied, pretending he didn't notice her nervous babbling, "I appreciate it."

Val inwardly sighed with relief "Welcome. But I have to get to my locker before class. As soon as I saw you getting pounced on by what's-her-name I came over, so I haven't been there yet."

"See you in class then."

A few minutes later another voice interrupted him when he was shuffling things around to make room in his locker.

"Okay, let's see it."

This time when he turned it was Sam and Tucker standing there.

After he had spoken to his parents for the second time last night, Danny had called Sam and Tucker back to update them on what was going on. Both had been pleasantly surprised there was such a simple solution (when did things normally go so east for them?) and were curious to see the new invention.

Danny lifted up his sleeve to let his two friends catch a glimpse of the chip.

"That's it?" Tucker asked, squinting at the small piece of metal.

"Yet," Danny replied, letting his sleeve fall back down, "I guess my parents finally learned that bigger isn't always better."

"And you're sure it stops working when it's off your skin?" Sam asked.

"Yep. Tired it out last night. The minute it went into my jeans it stopped blocking my powers."

Danny was nearly grinning from the relief of it all. He was so used to his parent's inventions working against him that it was nice for one of them to work for him for a change.

The fact that he could actually keep the thing on without risking his life meant that he was indeed a little safer. Him having it on meant his parents wouldn't worry quite so much, which meant they wouldn't be quite so overbearing.

"That's great!" Tucker was grinning.

They had all been expecting worse after all.

Danny slammed his locker shut and the three of them moved off towards class.

"So Sam," he asked, and Sam looked over at him, "have you picked out your costume yet?"

Danny knew what Tucker was being, so now he was curious about what his other best friend had chosen.

Sam had been wondering when he would ask this question. She had rehearsed both her answer and how she would say it, but now she wasn't so sure; what if Tucker was wrong?

Sam chewed on her lower lip, deciding. After a second she finally did reply in a flippant, casual manner.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you? I found this really cool Poison Ivy costume at that new store downtown. You know, that villain from Batman, and I mean the comic, not movie, version."

When Sam finished she held her breath and waited for Danny's reaction. At first he just stared at her blankly, and then the colour rose on his face. He only looked at her a moment longer before abruptly looking away from her eyes and shifting uncomfortably.

"Poison…Ivy…Comic…" Danny managed to stutter out, gulping.

Tucker for his part just burst out laughing. He gave her a knowing look, understanding what she was doing. Then he nodded over to where Danny was still blushing, and Tucker's face changed into one that screamed I told you so.

Sam almost smirked. If nothing else, Danny did think she made a sexy plant villain.

"I have to go," Danny hastily excused himself, "I'll see you in class."

As she watched him leave one thought ran through her mind; if he was acting like this just imagining her in the costume, she couldn't wait to see how he'd react when he actually saw her in it.

"Told you so," Tucker couldn't help but add smugly.

l.l.l.l

Danny trudged up the front steps of his house , ready to just fall down on his bed and fall asleep. It wasn't like it had been a bad day –it was freaking great compared to yesterday- but it had turned out to be a tiring one.

He had been teased all day, but that he was used to so he was able to tune out most of it. He got hit on a few more times, but a dark glare from Sam (and occasionally Valerie) was more than enough to stop that. He had had to spend half his lunch talking to Mr. Lancer, which he understood and was okay with.

He also had to deal with the image of Sam playing as Poison Ivy all day, and that right there was torture. All day his mind would wander off in that direction, and every time his body would respond. It was damn uncomfortable and beginning to get a little painful. It took all of his concentration not to think about her in any sort of little green outfit, and that wasn't working out all that well for him.

If he was acting like this now, then when he actually saw her on Halloween his brain would probably melt.

Tucker and Valerie snickering over his predicament wasn't helping either.

So really, even if the day hadn't been bad he still just wanted it over with.

The newspaper was sitting on the steps, and Danny noted that it was here earlier than normal. He glanced down at it as he picked it up, and when he saw the front page he froze.

There looking up at him was a picture of Spectra and another of Ember.

His eyes widened and his gaze flew to the headline. As he read the words, Danny could have sworn his heart stopped beating.

'_Ghosts living among us- trying to destroy us_'

l.l.l.l

An- So I don't know when the next chapter will be. I have a lot of school work coming up, plus I have myself another WIP going. On that note, I posted a couple of fics in the Buffy The Vampire Slayer section, so if you're into BTVS you should be a doll and go check it out. I'm gonna try for a Halloween update, but I make no promises! Peace, Love & Rainbows!


	12. Chapter 12

An- HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Hope everyone is having a great day. So I promised a chapter for Halloween, and by some miracle I actually got it done. It's a little on the short side, but something really big happens! I'll let you get to!

Chapter Twelve

'Ghosts living among us- trying to destroy us'

Danny just stared at the headline, unable to even blink as he re read the words. He was sure that his eyes must be wide and jaw hanging open, but he was too focused on the newspaper in front of him to notice.

He looked away from the headline and stared at the two photographs again. The one of Ember was her in one of her concerts while Spectra was standing in the Casper High Spirit Week decorated gym, that shark-like grin in place.

Finally he was able to recover enough to look at the actual text of the article, but before he could begin to read his eyes got caught on the reporter's name and he paused all over again.

_Written by Tara Maclay_.

Fuck!

He made it past the reporter's name as he slumped down on the front step. Then he began to read.

_For years now it has been a well known fact that ghosts do indeed exist. It is also well known that ghosts on a whole are extremely dangerous. In the town of Amity Park, which was named America's most haunted city two years ago, ghost attacks happen almost daily. Statistics gathered from the Amity Park hospital show that every two out of five people who come into emergency are there because of some ghost related injury._

_These attacks usually come from the same set of ghosts, with the occasional unknown one causing a disturbance. The public knows that when you see these ghosts you run. What the public doesn't see it the ghosts who walk among them, and who are determined to cause destruction under their very noses._

_Sources have revealed that the once popular rock star Ember McLain, who has graced the cover of Rolling Stones magazine, is actually the ghost of a young woman named Amber Mclainen, an eighteen year old who died in a house fire in North Carolina back in 1989. In the Ember McLain special edition of People magazine, it was stated that "Ember is like a siren, capturing the hearts and minds of those who hear her voice'. Unbeknownst to the interviewer, the assessment was completely correct. _

_Studies have shown that each ghost manifests a unique power, a power that coincides with their 'personality' and 'type'(it has also been proven that all ghosts have a set of base powers that vary in degrees). McLain's 'ghost power' is, no surprise, developed through her voice. Her voice has the ability to control those who hear it. McLain has attempted a city wide domination plot (Amity Park)a reported three times (sources say that it might have been more)._

_When contacting McLain's agents, the only answer received was 'no comment'._

_Another ghost who has been living in the human world (and at one time worked with McLain) is Penelope Spectra. No human information could be found on Spectra, but it is thought that she received a degree in psychology before death. _

_Spectra has taken to posing as a high school guidance councillor. Sources say that she feeds off of the misery of young people. Students at Casper High agree that after speaking with Spectra they felt an increase in depression and anxiety. As Dash Baxter, who was a freshmen at the time of Spectra's employment, puts it "you'd talk to her and after you'd feel pretty down. Like you'd become one of the losers, you know?"_

_Not only did Spectra feed off the misery of the children she saw, it is also reported that she plotted the murder of one student and also infected the entire student body of Casper High with a pathogen that confided them to a hospital. _

_Both of these ghosts, while living mostly in their own 'Ghost Zone', have spent long periods of time living and working among humans. Not only that, but they have been secretly trying to destroy us. Whether it be through mind control or the emotional draining of children, both of these ghosts have been direct threats to humanity…and it has happened without any of our knowledge. Which begs the question what else don't we know? _

When he finished reading Danny dropped the paper in complete and utter horror.

This couldn't be happening.

The implications of this one article were enough to knot his stomach.

His mind flew over all the laws that had been created to protect ghosts and knew they were going to be of little use now. Those laws were for ghosts who had their own quiet little haunting and stayed out of the way, but even those ghosts were in trouble. Now that it was known just how easy it was for a ghost to blend in with the general populace, there was going to be panic. What made it worse was that the two ghosts that had been outted were ones who had blended in just to cause harm. Now every ghost would be under suspicion, and the law said that even the hint of suspicion meant that the GIW could take action against them. Even ghosts who were more or less harmless were going to be in danger. God help any ghosts who got caught trying to live among humans. Even Phantom was in trouble.

It was going to be a witch hunt.

With that terrifying concept in his mind Danny leapt to his feet and dashed inside his house, the newspaper and his book bag forgotten on the steps.

He needed to talk to Sam and Tucker. Now.

The minute he was behind closed doors he shoved his anti ghost patch into his pocket and transformed. He flew back out the front door, invisible and grabbed his cell phone out of his backpack and picked up the newspaper.

As he shot through the air Danny was dialling numbers. First Tucker's. The minute Tucker picked up the phone Danny was speaking.

"I need you to meet me…" where was somewhere secluded? "at the park. Now!"

"I just got ho-"

"It doesn't matter!" Danny snapped.

"Wow dude, what the hell is wrong with you?" Tucker's voice was angry.

"When you get there," the fear was making him angry, "please."

It was the please that got Tucker.

"Fine. I'll be there soon. Want me to bring Sam?"

"Yes."

Danny hung up without a goodbye, too worried to care about being polite. Tucker was probably pissed at him, but at the moment he couldn't make himself care.

When he reached the park –in record time- Danny landed, transformed and began to pace.

His mind ran over a list of ghosts who frequented this world posing as humans. Ember and Spectra obviously. Johnny, Kitty, Youngblood, Ghostwriter…he knew for a fact that each of them spent a considerable amount of time amongst humans. Then there was Danni, Vlad and himself, who lived among them.

And humans, after reading that article, would not welcome them.

Sam and Tucker arrived five minutes later, both looking a cross between worried and angry.

"Wha-" Tucker began to demand answers when they reached him.

In reply Danny just thrust the paper out to them. Danny watched as the expressions on their faces changed from confusion, to shock and then finally settled on a mix of dread and horror.

"Oh my God," Sam was the first to speak.

"How- how did they get all this information?" Tucker asked, looking at Danny with wide eyes, "No matter what answers they got from us students and Ember's agent, there's no way in hell they could have found all of this out. They know pretty much everything about the plots those two cooked up…how is it possible they know that?"

Christ. He hadn't even thought of that. Danny had been so worried about what these revelations could do that he didn't even think about the implications about how they got the information.

This was getting worse.

"I don't know," Danny replied, his stomach tying itself in knots as he tried to come up with some answer. He was bringing up nothing.

No one could know all of that besides Danny, his friends and the ghosts themselves. There was no way a ghost would give up any of that information to humans; they would see the dangers of this becoming public knowledge as well as he had. Even the most self serving of ghosts would see the harm that would reach them.

"Right now I'm more worried about what this information is going to do," Danny told them.

"It might not…" Tucker tried to be positive, but the thought died out.

"Yes it will," Sam spoke, her voice grim, "it's human nature to over react. People will read this and be terrified. Because two ghosts have done this, people are going to believe that all ghosts are trying to do it. And for those who have already feared and hated ghosts? This is just give them the opportunity to push their own views…views that will rally against ghosts, even the more harmless ghosts."

Sam's assessment was exactly what Danny feared.

"I can try and do what I can," Sam sounded like she was talking to herself, "try to get people to stick with us, but after this…"

"I? We?" Danny asked her in confusion, knowing he was missing something.

Sam looked over at him with a ghost of a smile.

"It's been me Danny. All of it. I'm the one who started and funded the ghost rights group. I'm the one who fought to make sure you wouldn't get captured by the GIW. It's been my work that got all those amendments to the ecto laws to make sure you wouldn't become some experiment."

Danny just stared at his friend in amazement. She had been behind all of those protests? All of those changes that made his life a little less dangerous? Why hadn't she told any of them…told him?

"As time went on," Sam went on, "you got better at fighting ghosts. So good in fact that you barely needed Tucker and I to watch your back anymore. But I couldn't just sit back and not look out for you. I found a way to keep you safe, and I've been doing it ever since."

Both Danny and Tucker looked dumb founded, but Sam really couldn't blame them. She hadn't do much as dropped a hint of her involvement in ghost rights.

"Sam," Danny asked, "why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want the information to get out," she explained, "I couldn't let anything to do with it get back to me. I couldn't have my motives questioned, not when I'm so close to you. If people began to question why I fought for ghost rights they may find a connection to Phantom, and then to Danny. I kept it from everyone except the lawyer who helped me set the group up."

"Wow Sam," Tucker's voice was a little awe filled, "that's intense."

Danny felt so grateful that, if he were to open his mouth to thank her, he would choke up. Instead he closed the distance between them and hugged her.

"You're welcome Danny," Sam told him with a smile, but then it faded, "but I doubt my group will be able to do anything now; Ember and Spectra both used young people to further their plans. Expose someone of putting children in harms way and they're screwed. Ember and Spectra are going to be the new way they see ghosts, and that's probably the greatest damage ghosts have faced."

"What about Phantom?" Tucker asked.

"He's a proven hero, so he should be okay for now," Sam replied, "but the more news is made, the more that will waver. The longer this makes news, the higher the suspicion will rise. Give it enough time and all ghosts will be under suspicion, even the heroes."

"I'm going to be in even more trouble," Danny spoke, "Maclay wrote this article, and she was asking questions about Phantom. Plus she thinks I'm suspicious as just Fenton. If she's working with the GIW in an attempt to expose ghosts then they're not going to stop with just Ember and Spectra."

"We need to find out where they got the info," Tucker reminded them, "if they could get that much about Ember and Spectra then God knows what else they know. Or what they could find out."

"Tucker's right," Sam agreed, "we have to worry about that first. Bad things will probably come from this," she waved the paper, "but we can't be a hundred percent sure about it. Until we know for sure, we can't panic. There's too many other things we should focus on at the moment, and worrying about anything else will give you ulcers."

Sam was right of course, but it didn't stop the worry from twisting around his stomach.

"I'll finish my hack job tonight," Tucker told him, "the GIW and I'll see if I can get myself into Maclay's server. If she has any files I might be able to hack them and find whatever source she's talking about."

"I'll start looking at things from the law point of view," Sam volunteered, "be ready for the fallout. We take this thing as we go. Panicking before we have to won't help. We've gotten through worse and we're still here to tell the tale."

Sam was right, at least about the not panicking part. As for the worst things part, that still remained to be seen. Though right now freaking out wouldn't help…this was one of those need to be calm situations.

Danny was grateful beyond words.

"You go home and try not to have a heart attack," Sam finished, "you're going to have a harder job than us."

"What?" Danny asked in a little confusion.

As far as doing something productive at the moment, Danny really couldn't. At the moment there was nothing he could do.

"You need to put up with your parents once they hear the news," there was a small smirk tugging at the corner or Sam's mouth.

Danny groaned. Oh God, anything but that. His parents were going to go insane. The last thing Danny needed was to listen to his parent's opinions. His nerves were frayed enough without having to hear about the evilness of ghosts all night. He was going to be hearing about it enough outside his home in the next while.

_Looks like I'll be spending the night in my room_, Danny thought to himself with another groan.

"I have to go," Sam told them, "I have work in an hour. It shouldn't be busy tonight, so I can make some calls."

"I have to meet Val to work on our project," Tucker said, "though I doubt we'll be talking about our project," Tucker was close to wincing, "soon as she hears this that'll be all she'll talk about. I like the girl and all, but God can she rant."

Danny thought that that was an understatement. Like his parents, Val would take this as an invitation to open season on ghosts.

"Danny," Sam's voice was soft as she took hold of his hand, "whatever comes from this, we'll get through it. We'll be okay…we always are."

l.l.l.l

When Danny arrived home his parents didn't even notice him come in. They were too busy staring at the TV, which was now playing the news. Said news was covering the story that had been in the paper. Only this time instead of local, it was national coverage.

Damn. It just got worse.

Danny quietly went up the stairs, wanting to avoid his parents for as long as possible.

When Danny turned on his computer there was a message waiting from Jazz. It was simple and small.

_I'm watching the news. I'll be home tomorrow night_.

Danny almost told her that everything was fine, to not come down, but something stopped him. He was scared truth be told, and having Jazz around always made her feel better. She was able to calm him down in a way that not even Sam could. He'd never tell her, but all that psychobabble really did help on occasion. She was able to be sensible, and if things got bad he wanted her here.

So instead he replied with '_Thanks_'

l.l.l.

The next day at school the thing everyone was talking about Ember and Spectra. No one could believe that the rock star they had all loved and the councillor they all despised were ghosts. The topic went on all day, only breaking up during class (when the teachers weren't commenting on it).

Danny was a nervous wreck though he hid it well. Sam could see how much this bothered him, especially when Val was around (Sam wished the other girl would shut up, but no matter how hard Tucker tried he couldn't get the subject changed). When Sam had suggested that Danny go home sick, Danny took her advice just before lunch.

Sam had wanted to go to him right after school, but she had her meeting with Lancer. So at the moment she was sitting in her office as he asked her what her plans for after graduation were.

"I'm not entirely sure," Sam replied, "I'm thinking that maybe law school or maybe even political science. My parents are insisting on me sending applications to UCLA and NYU. I'm also looking into some schools in Florida."

She hoped that Lancer didn't call her out on the Florida idea. It kind of made her sound pretty pathetic, picking a university close to a boy she wasn't even dating.

"Florida?" Lancer asked, and Sam nodded, "I don't suppose that had anything to do with Mr. Fenton?"

"I-" Sam wanted to argue, but found herself blushing, "Well…yes."

She couldn't believe she had said that out loud.

"Well then Ms. Manson," Lancer told her with a sigh, "you will be sorely disappointed."

Sam looked at Mr. Lancer, who had a sad look on his face, in confusion.

"What are you talking about?"

"When Mr. Fenton had his meeting with me he told me he no longer had aspirations of joining the space program."

Sam stared at the teacher in shock.

What? Lancer had to be mistaken…Danny wanted to be an astronaut.

Seeing the confused look on her face, Lancer continued, "the only application Mr. Fenton is putting in is to Amity U."

"But…" Sam whispered, "he…he hasn't said a word. To any of us…not to me…"

Sam was still sitting there in disbelief when she realized that she had to talk to Danny. Now.

"Mr. Lancer can I go?" She asked.

"Very well," Lancer replied with a nod, "if you have anymore questions or concerns we can reschedule."

Sam was almost out the door when Mr. Lancer spoke again.

"Ms. Manson, don't let him go until he's opened up about his reasons. You're the only one he'll be completely honest with."

Sam was ready to refute that claim; Danny hadn't mentioned this decision…he hadn't even hinted at it. Ever.

Instead she kept walking as she whipped out her cell phone and texted Danny to meet her behind the school. She hated doing this when she knew he was dealing with a lot today, but she had to know. She had to ask him why he was doing this. Or not doing this as the case was.

She waited outside, sitting on one of the benches. He landed five minutes later, looking worried. She hated worrying him more too, since he had so much already to worry about.

"Sam, what's wron-" Danny began, not even transforming back as he walked towards her. She cut him off before he could finish his sentence.

"You're not going to even cry!" She cried, on her feet and coming at him.

It was ironically funny that, out of all the things that were happening, finding out this was what had impacted her the most.

Danny stopped, looking at her in confusion.

"I don't get it Danny!" She continued, "how you not at least try and get in?"

"Sam, what the hell are you _talking_ about?"

"I just got done talking to Lancer, and he told me that you're only applying to Amity U. That you're not even going to try for the space program at all. Why Danny? I know your marks aren't that great, but…"

"It's not that Sam," his voice was soft, "I can't leave Amity Park; this is the ghost capital of the world, and I'm its protector. I can't leave all these people defenceless. In the past three years I've become to one who saves the town from ghosts who don't care if they hurt someone. If I leave those ghosts will keep on coming, and who will be here to stop them? My parents can't even catch the Box Ghost for Christ's sake and I know Val wants to get out of Amity Park. It doesn't matter if I want to go or not, only that I _have_ to stay. My old dreams don't apply anymore. They can't."

"Oh Danny," Sam whispered, wrapping her arms around him.

How could she have been so blind not to see this? How could she have no known he would see it this way? He was Danny and he had a hero complex; he would never leave this place as long as there was a potential threat.

"I'm sorry," she whispered again as his arms came around her.

"Not your fault. Well besides the whole let's check out your parent's ghost portal thing."

His tone wasn't even angry. It was joking.

"How can you joke about this?" Sam asked, pulling away enough so she could look up into his face.

There was a sad smile on his lips and a kind of pain in his eyes.

"What else can I do?" he asked, "I can't do anything about it and I've accepted it. Sure it hurts like a bitch, but things could always be worse. In fact, they're getting there so I haven't even thought about this in a while. What with dealing with crazy powers, snooping agents and reporters and exposes, I didn't really remember it until now," at Sam's wince her reassured her, "it's okay Sam. I should have told you and Tucker about my plans before this. And hey, thinking about that is much easier than stressing about if the news is going to make my life worse."

Sam looked away, not wanting him to see the pity in her eyes. She felt so sorry for him, but he didn't need to know that.

"Hey," Danny spoke softly, taking hold of her chin and tipping it back up to look at him, "don't be sad. I'm okay with it Sam. I really am."

His eyes told her that he was telling the truth. She reached up to brush hair out of those expressive eyes, and when she was done she let her fingertips trail down his cheek, across his jaw line and stopped only when they came to his lips.

Danny closed his eyes, his skin tingling where Sam had touched him. Her hands were so soft.

His hands came to rest on her hips of their own accord, and Sam shivered at his touch, half from the cold aura of his ghost form and half from the nervous desire she usually felt when he touched her.

He felt her shiver and reopened her eyes to look down into her face. She was looking straight at into his eyes and…waiting?

"Sam," he whispered her name, and there was such indecision in his eyes…

"Danny," she whispered back, "are you going to kiss me or not?"

His vivid green widened, and Sam held her breath. What if he backed off? Would she be able to take it?

She opened her mouth to say something else, but Danny's face suddenly jerked down towards hers and his lips crashed onto hers. He kissed her fiercely, and after a stunned moment Sam began to kiss him back with equal passion. Her arms snaked around his neck, pulling him closer. Danny responded by encircling her waist and pulling her into him…which apparently wasn't close enough because next thing she knew her back was connecting with the wall rather painfully.

A small part of her brain pointed out that she was going to have one hell of a bruise, but that part was silenced when Danny lifted her clear off of the ground, making it easier for him to ravage her lips. Instinctively she wrapped her legs around her hips to help him keep her up.

Danny groaned when Sam's legs went around him. He half wondered if she would begin to freak out over the way his body was responding to their little make out session. She didn't say a word…but did make an attempt to pull him even closer, which wasn't really possible.

His lips moved from her mouth to trail kissed across her jaw line and make their way to the hallow of her throat. He nipped at the skin there, causing her to gasp and angle her neck so he had more room to manoeuvre.

"Danny…" she moaned his name as he trailed his tongue over a spot he had just nipped.

His lips moved from her throat to her ear.

"Sam," Danny whispered between nibbling on her earlobe, "do you…want…to umm…maybe…go out…sometime?"

"Don't you usually ask that before you begin to make out behind the school?" Sam's voice was husky and deep, and Danny realized that that tone drove him absolutely crazy.

A low moan escaped from the back of Sam's throat when Danny's teeth, tongue and lips went back to working on her neck. He smirked against her skin, loving that he was the one who was causing her to make those mind blowing sounds.

"Yes or no Sam," he asked, kissing her again.

"Hell yes," was Sam's reply, and then she pulled his face back up to hers. Her hands were threaded through his snowy white hair, and the grip her legs had on his hips tightened.

Sam gasped and shivered suddenly, and Danny pulled away abruptly, fearing he had done something wrong. Her eyes were wide.

Danny began to panic; had he hurt her? Gone too far?

"I think," she told him, "your ghost sense just went off in my mouth."

As to confirm her words, the blue mist shot out from his lips.

"You've got to be fucking _kidding _me!" Danny growled.

He was going to _kill_ whatever ghost had decided to make an appearance.

"BEWARE! I AM THE BOX GHOST!"

"He _dies_," Danny hissed as he lowered Sam back to the ground.

He stepped away from her and turned to go and pound the crap out of the Box Ghost.

Though he was thankful that of all the ghosts who it could have been, it was the Box Ghost; this was a ghost he could take on in human form.

The fact that he was in skin tight spandex would let the entire world see the type of situation he had been in. If he went into a fight with it being apparent, he'd _never_ live it down. At least jeans would be able to hide his hard on, or at least better than spandex would.

He transformed and turned the corner of the school. The Box Ghost was floating there, apparently waiting for him.

"You realize I'm going to kill you," Danny growled, "painfully."

"That is unlikely as I am already dead," the Box Ghost declared, to which Danny just narrowed his eyes dangerously, "but I do not come to fight nor to cause trouble!"

"Then why the fuck are you here?" Danny hissed, fists clenched.

_Other than to interrupt me when I finally get the courage to kiss Sam_, Danny thought.

"I have come to give you this!" the ghost declared, and then a small box appeared in front of Danny, "Now I must go and you return to Spooky girl! BEWARE!"

Danny shot off an ecto blast at the spot where the Box Ghost had been, but he was already gone.

Next time the Box Ghost showed his face he was going to be in so much trouble.

He took the box that was still in front of him, What the hell was it? First thing Danny noticed was that there was writing on the top. Curious despite his still present anger, Danny began to read the words.

_You are hereby invited to the wedding of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady. The ceremony will take place on November 17th at 3pm at Box Ghost's lair with lunch to follow._

Danny had to read the invitation over three times before he actually processed it.

Box Ghost and Lunch Lady were getting married (eww). And even stranger, they had invited him.

What. The. Hell.

That made no sense whatsoever.

"Sam," Danny said as he rounded the corner once again, "you're never gonna believe…"

Danny's voice trailed odd when he realized that he was speaking to empty air.

Sam was gone.

l.l.l.

An- So what did you think? I debated holding off on the kiss, but then I went over the timeframe I had for my plot and realized I needed to hurry things up a bit. I hope it wasn't too soon. Anyway, not sure when the next chapter will be- it all depends on school. Which is brutal at the moment. That's all for now, and see you later! And instead of giving me candy on this Halloween, leave me a review as a treat instead!


	13. Chapter 13

An- So, it has been a mighty while. I apologize greatly about that, since I left you guys with quite the terrible cliff hanger. Sorry about that, but my life went to hell there for awhile. A medical thing that I thought I was rid of blindsided me, and I've not really been inspired to write for awhile. Hope you can forgive me. Not to mention the chapter is extra long compared to the others! Yay! Since someone asked, I thought I'd clarify something: there will be no actual sex scenes written for this story, as I am determined to keep it at a T rating (my last few fics have been M). In fact, the whole making out thing isn't going to be happening all that often, but when it does, there has been years of UST between Danny and Sam- it's not going to be all chaste kisses and hand holding, especially when they're both seventeen at this point. One question though, what exactly does a 'lime' entail (I know lemon is descriptive sex), because someone asked and I have no idea.

Chapter Thirteen

Sam watched Danny disappear around the corner of the school looking as though he was going to murder the Box Ghost. Her hand came up to touch her now swollen lips. Her head was spinning as she stood there. Danny had kissed her…no, Danny had done more than that. There had been pushing against walls and, after Sam initiating the kiss, there was take charge, kind of dominant Danny…which was hot.

What the hell had just happened?

It had finally happened. After all these years of waiting, Sam finally had Danny…so why all of the sudden did that concept terrify her? When Danny had been there, she hadn't had time to think. There had just been kissing and passion. Now, all the doubts that had been in her mind for years came crashing back to her. There was no question that Danny felt the same way, but in the end that might not matter. Their entire friendship was changed, and could never go back to what it had been. Everything was different now…and that was terrifying to her. When Danny had been kissing her it had seemed like the most right thing in the world. Now that he wasn't there, she kept asking herself if it was a mistake.

She could hear him yelling at the Box Ghost around the corner, and when her ears caught something like 'Get back to Spooky Girl' from the Box Ghost, she panicked. She needed time to think, to get her mind around what had just happened. She couldn't talk to Danny right now, not until she got a hold on what she was feeling.

She heard him coming back, and she just acted; her mind told her that it wasn't the right thing to do and that it made her a coward, but Sam took off running.

l.l.l

Sam was gone.

Danny blinked a few times when he didn't see her standing where he had left her. He looked around the area, thinking maybe she had gone to sit down on the picnic table. She wasn't there either.

A wave of panic washed over him as he considered that something must have happened to her. He hadn't heard a fight or a scream, but that didn't mean Sam wasn't in trouble. He transformed and flew up into the sky, knowing that he'd be able to find her from higher up. He looked around almost frantically, trying to locate her. When he found her, he breathed a sigh of relief that she wasn't in trouble. Then he realized what she _was_ doing, and his heart felt like it was breaking.

Sam was running away…running away from _him_.

He watched her form go further and further away, and began cursing himself. What the hell was wrong with him? He was such an idiot! Jesus, what had he been thinking? His first kiss with Sam and he had ended up pushing her against a fucking wall and getting her wrapped around him.

He had freaked her out, and she had run. How could he blame her? Out of nowhere he had practically attacked her. Years of pent up feelings for her had just exploded. The minute Sam asked if he was going to kiss her, Danny had just acted. His mind had shut off and he had went with everything his body wanted. God, how far would he have gone if the Box Ghost hadn't interrupted?

He wanted to fly after her, to apologize and ask her if she was alright. He wanted to talk to her and sort all of this out…but he didn't. Danny knew that going after Sam at the moment was a bad idea. Clearly Sam didn't want to talk things through; she wanted to be alone at the moment, and running after her would only make things worse.

So he continued to watch her go until she turned a corner and was out of his sight. He once again pushed back the need to follow her, and instead flew towards home.

His emotions were a mess now too, and not just because of Sam's running. This was a big and abrupt change, even if it really had been coming for years. He understood the need to process it all. Didn't make it hurt any less though.

He arrived home quicker than he expected, and in time to see Jazz's little car pull up in front of Fenton Works. That made a small sense of relief hit him. He could really use his big sister's advice right now. He watched her climb out of her car and rush into the house before he landed behind the car, transformed and then followed her in. Jazz hadn't even made it out of the front hall when Danny walked in. She jumped a little when he closed the door, but looked relieved when she turned around and saw him standing there.

"Oh my God Danny, are you alright?"

He almost burst out laughing at that; Oh, he was very far from alright. Danny couldn't remember the last time he had felt so miserable.

"No," he replied simply, "I'm really not."

"As soon as I saw the news report I knew I had to get home-" Jazz started, but Danny cut her off.

"It's not that Jazz."

Jazz looked surprised at that, like she couldn't quite believe the exposé about ghosts wasn't the thing causing him distress. That surprise was replaced completely a moment later by deeply concerned big sister.

"What's wrong?"

"I kissed Sam," he hadn't exactly meant to blurt it out like that, but it happened anyway.

Jazz looked at him in confusion, and when she spoke it was slowly, like she was trying to figure something out.

"You're upset because you kissed Sam. After years of being in love with her," she paused and then shook her head, "Sorry Danny, but what's the problem?"

He could understand her confusion; him kissing Sam should have fallen under best moment of my life, not make him miserable.

"She ran. Sam ran away," Danny stated simply, and then proceeded to tell his sister the entire story (though he did edit and censor the details of the kiss. Jazz didn't need to know how intense that had gotten).

Jazz listened, only interrupting once when Danny told her of the invitation the Box Ghost had given him with a completely stunned 'Married! Are you _serious_?'. Danny glared at her, silently conveying that that was not the point of the story and she dropped it (from the look on her face, Danny could tell that she was filing the information away to think of at another time). When he finished speaking, Jazz was ready to reassure him.

"She freaked out Danny," at his wince, she continued on quickly, "not because of you, or at least not exactly. When you want something for so long and then in an instant you have it, it's bewildering. All the sudden you have what you want, and at first you have no clue how to deal with it. All that change at once is confusing, and anyone would need time to work through it. Especially when it comes to something as big, important and potentially messy as relationships. Sam isn't the first girl to land the guy of her dreams and then panic about it, and she won't be the last. The need for space to think over this big of a change is perfectly normal. Sam, for all her desire to change the world, isn't completely prepared to deal with life altering changes in her own life when it comes to relationships. Otherwise she would have made a move on you back when you were fourteen."

"I understand that!" Danny cried, a bit more upset at Jazz's words, "I do, and I even agree with needing time to think. What I don't get is her running away without saying a word! Would it have been so hard to wait another two minutes and say' Danny, I need a little space for a little while'?"

Danny didn't like it, but he was angry; angry that Sam had left without talking to him first. He would have let her have all of the time she needed, all she had to do was ask for it. He would never push her into anything she wasn't ready for. They had been friends long enough for Sam to know that, damnit!

"You're right, she should have said something," Jazz agreed, "and you have a right to be pissed because she didn't, but in the end she didn't. So that begs the question, when you see Sam next, are you going to vent your anger?"

The anger he felt took a step back at Jazz's question. Danny knew he wouldn't; he could be furious with Sam and he wouldn't take it out on her, not over this. That would lead to a battle of royal proportions, which wouldn't lead to patching things up, let alone get them into a relationship.

"Of course not," Danny sighed, "let her know I didn't appreciate her disappearing act, yes. Blow up at her, no."

"Good," Jazz said, "because she'd murder you otherwise."

A small smile twitched at the corner of Danny's lips. Jazz's assessment was right on the money there. Jazz saw the beginning of the smile and cautiously spoke up.

"So, you feeling any better?"

"A little," Danny replied, "or at least I'm not so damn confused. Now I just have to figure out what to do now."

"Give her a few more hours, and then go over there to talk to her. Don't push the topic too much, but at least clear the air."

"And if she doesn't want to talk to me?"

"Danny, this is Sam," Jazz said with a raised eyebrow, "when was the last time she stayed upset with you for over a day, and that's when you do something stupid?"

She had a point there.

"Thanks Jazz," Danny said, giving his sister an impromptu hug.

"What are big sisters for?" She returned the hug, and when he pulled away, her face was serious again, "Now, I want you to tell me what's going on with this expose on ghosts."

l.l.l.l

The minute Sam was alone in her room, she knew she had made a mistake. She shouldn't have run the way she had…she owed Danny so much more than that. She should have waited for him, at least to ask him to let her have time to think. He wouldn't have been ecstatic about it, but he would have given her the breathing room she needed. Instead, she had run away, leaving Danny alone with his over blown guilt complex. At the moment, he was probably blaming and hating himself because of her disappearing act.

"Oh Danny," she whispered to herself, "I'm sorry."

Sam knew that eventually Danny would make his way to her (actually, she was surprised he hadn't come already; Danny wasn't exactly known for his patience) and she'd apologize in person for her behaviour. They'd talk and (hopefully) come to some sort of decision of where to go from here. Until then, Sam had some soul searching to do, and she wanted to work through things with another person. For once, she didn't want to be completely independent and do things on her own.

She contemplated calling Tucker, but she knew that wasn't the answer. Tucker was one of her best friends, but he wasn't the one who could help her out this time. What Sam needed was someone who could see it from the same perspective…Sam needed to talk to a girl. So Sam picked up the phone and called the one girlfriend she had besides Jazz (that would have been _way_ too awkward). She called Val.

The phone rang twice before there was a click on the other end and Valerie's voice was saying hello.

"Um…hi Val," Sam replied a little awkwardly. This girl talk thing was still pretty new to her.

"Hey Sam!" Val sounded genuinely pleased to hear from her, "What's happening?"

Sam took a deep breath before she began to speak, "Well, Danny and I were talking after school. I was upset because Lancer told me that Danny didn't want to go into the space program anymore and never told us," Val made a surprised sound, "and I was upset and he was reassuring, which led to hugging. Then there was one of those moments, and I asked something about kissing me…then there was kissing. Real kissing…_lots _of real kissing."

Val was laughing by the time Same finished. Sam could hear the delight in her friend's laughter, and knew that Valerie was happy for her. That meant that Val wasn't going to be impressed by the running away part.

"Told you jumping him would work!"

Sam had to smile a little at that; it really, really had.

"Then what happened?" Val asked, her voice turning mischievous, "or do I _want_ to know?"

A blush lit up Sam's cheeks even though Valerie couldn't see it, "Nothing like that! We were interrupted by a g-teacher," Sam barely caught herself in time to avoid saying ghost, "Danny went to talk to him…and then I messed up. I left before Danny got back."

"You _what_!"

"The minute Danny left me alone all the reasons why I haven't done this before, hit me at once," Sam rushed to explain, "and it was terrifying! All of the fears of ruining our friendship rushed back, and all of these what ifs ran through my mind."

"Apparently not the what if that goes something like what if this is finally when I get Danny after years of waiting," Val snorted on the other end of the line.

"Why didn't I think that? I _should_ have thought that. I kissed Danny for the first time and it was _real_. It ranks up there with the best moments of my life…then I go and ruin it by running…"

The longer she talked, the tougher it became for Sam that she had actually done it. What had she been thinking? She should have been doing a happy dance (not that she actually had a happy dance), not panicking.

"Because, when it comes to Danny, you worry way too much," was Val's simple answer.

_Years of watching him risk his life everyday will do that_, of course Sam didn't say it out loud.

Was that another reason? If anything ever happened to Danny…Sam didn't know how she'd survive. She couldn't even imagine how painful losing him would be if they were together…

Sam shuddered at the thought. She wouldn't let herself think about it, but had her unconscious self latched onto her fear, and then helped fuel her panic? Or was she just psychoanalyzing herself way too much?

"You got freaked out over nothing," Valerie continued, "it happens to the best of us. Just look at how long it took me to believe Tucker was serious about me. Now you just have to fix it, which is as simple as an I'm sorry."

"What if Danny's mad at me?" Sam figured he would be.

"Please," the other girl scoffed, "like that'll matter! Even if he is, the minute you apologize –which you better do ASAP- he'll forgive and quite possibly forget. You have that boy wrapped around your little finger."

Sam almost giggled at that.

"So when you see him, apologize and explain, then everything will be fine," Val said, "Probably better than fine."

Now that she had time to calm her emotions down, Sam could easily see what Val meant by better than fine. Unless catastrophe struck in the form of Danny being unforgiving, chances were they were finally going to be together. After years of balancing on the edge of friends and more-than-friends, the two of them were finally going to take that next step.

"You and Danny are meant to be together," Val sounded completely sure of herself, "and it had better happen after this, or I swear, if you two go in denial again, I'm going to kick your asses."

Sam did smile at that, "Thanks Val."

l.l.l.l

There was a soft tapping on her window, and then Danny's quiet voice broke out.

"Sam…can I come in?"

It had been almost four hours since she had seen him last, and after talking to Val, Sam was ready to deal with these new developments in a much better manner. She was still nervous about the upcoming conversation, but nothing like before. She was ready for this conversation now where she hadn't even been close before.

Sam took a deep breath before answering, "Yes."

Danny floated into her room and paused to look at her before he said anything. Sam was sitting crossed legged on her bed, looking as nervous as he felt. Though she hadn't denied him permission to enter, so that was a good sign. He transformed back to human and joined her on the bed, sitting across from her so that he'd be able to see her face as they talked. They both sat there in awkward silence for a long time, fidgeting uncomfortably, until they both blurted out the same thing at once.

"I'm sorry!"

They looked at each other for a moment after the words were spoken, and then burst out laughing. Just like that, most of the tension was broken. They continued to laugh for a good three minutes straight before Sam finally took in enough air to speak.

"Me first okay?" the seriousness was back, but it was much less uncomfortable than it had been before, "I'm sorry I ran like I did. It was a stupid thing to do, and was so unfair to you."

"I'm sorry I that I let us get so, err…carried away," Danny said when she finished, "It was a hell of a first kiss, but even I know it was probably too much, too fast."

"Not your fault," Sam protested, "I was just as involved as you were."

"Maybe, but I'm sorry anyway."

"Geez Danny," she rolled her eyes, "is there anything you _don't_ feel guilt over?"

"Not much no," Danny teased back.

He realized then that, at that moment and during that exchange, the two of them were back to normal; Sam was exasperated with him and he was joking about it. Then Danny realized that no matter what conclusion they came to about being together, he and Sam would be okay. It might be a little awkward for awhile, but it wouldn't change.

"Thanks for waiting," Sam spoke again, getting back on subject, "for not coming after me right away."

"I wanted to," Danny admitted, "but I knew it wouldn't help any. It was kind of obvious you weren't ready to talk about it. Though I wish you had said something about it…the running without a word kinda hurt," Same winced a little, "I get it though, I really do."

"I'm ready now," she ventured softly.

Danny almost sighed in relief. He would have gone crazy if Sam had shut him out. He asked the obvious question when he realized that Sam was waiting for him to start.

"Where do we go from here? I know what I want, but it's up to you. I want us to date –have for a long time-, but if you want to forget thus ever happened, I will," he paused for a moment, "well, that's a lie; I won't ever forget, but I can pretend it never happened."

Of course he would make it all about her, Sam realized. Valerie was kind of right when she said Sam had him wrapped around her finger. The fact he wasn't putting any pressure on her was the deciding factor for Sam…was what took away whatever fear there was left.

"I want that too," She said softly, "I have since we were fourteen. And there's no way in hell I'll ever be forgetting that kiss either."

Sam smiled at him almost sheepishly and Danny returned it with a smirk, "well, it _was_ one hell of a kiss."

With an exasperated sigh, Sam smacked him with a pillow.

"Could you be anymore full of yourself?"

"Maybe I was commenting on your expertise," Danny replied with a cheeky grin, and this time managed to duck in time to avoid the pillow that came flying at him.

"No need to get violent Sam," he chastised playfully, "beating up on your boyfriend is a big no no."

"Boyfriend huh?" Sam said, "I do seem to recall you saying something about owing me a date."

"Just name the time and place, and I'll be there with bells on."

Sam laughed at the mental picture that brought to mind.

"I'll have you know I'm not a cheap date," she replied in a teasing voice, "I expect the best for this first date of ours."

Sam knew damn well that she would be happy no matter where Danny took her or what they did, but she didn't have to tell him that.

"Only the best for my Sammy."

She almost told him not to call her Sammy, but she held her tongue for once. It had a nice ring to it, with the 'my' in front of it. Sam really liked the idea of being Danny's, and didn't feel the need to protest it.

"So we're good right?" Danny asked, needing to be absolutely positive that Sam wasn't just joking around with him.

"Better than good," Sam said, paraphrasing what Val has said earlier, "but…"

"But what?" Danny felt a little panic starting at that one little word. But was never good, it always led to bad things.

"You were right about the too much, too fast," Sam replied, not exactly looking at him anymore, "no matter how much I want it, I don't think I can jump right into girlfriend mode. I know we're way past the getting to know each other phase, bur I don't think I'm at the being all over each other at school phase- not that I want to do that anyway, but you get what I mean."

Danny had to admit that he was a little disappointed, but he wasn't going to tell Sam that. He had been completely serious when he said it was all up to her. If she wanted to take time, then he'd agree without complaint…even if he did want to shout from the rooftops at the top of his lungs that he was dating Samantha Manson.

"Then we go slow," Danny replied without hesitation, "or at least slower."

Sam gave him a look of gratitude, "So, are you going to tell Tucker or am I?"

Danny raised his eyebrows at her question.

"What? He's our best friend and has been trying to get us together for years. He'd throw a hissy fit if we didn't tell him right away. Val might have told him already, so if we wait he'll be all sulky."

"How does Valerie know?"

"I kind of called her," Sam replied with a shrug, much to Danny's surprise, "I needed another girl to talk to, and I figured there was a conflict of interest with Jazz."

"Good thing, since she played psychologist for me."

"Her favourite pastime."

"I'm beginning to think so," Danny snorted, "since I'm pretty sure she plans to write a book about my issues someday."

"And what a big and interesting book it will be," Sam only snickered when Danny glared at her.

This conversation was easier than he thought it would be. Breaking up the seriousness with normal teasing had made it so much easier. It had raised both their comfort levels.

"I'll call Tucker when I get home," Danny volunteered, glancing at the clock on Sam's dresser, "which I should be doing now."

Disappointment showed plainly on Sam's face, and Danny wished he could stay longer.

"Sorry Sam, but I still have homework. For some reason I wasn't able to concentrate all afternoon."

"Sorry," she apologized yet again.

"Don't be," he said as he got off the bed, "I wouldn't have been able to concentrate either way. You kiss too damn good."

"Danny?" Sam's voice stopped him before he reached the window.

"Yeah?" He asked, turning back to her and noting the way she was biting her lower lip, and knowing that was what she did when she was nervous about something.

"I still like the taking it a little slower plan, but can we still go slow and have kissing? I liked the kissing."

A smile lit up his face as he replied, "Yeah Sam, we can still have some kissing."

To prove his point, Danny walked back to her and leaned down to kiss her. It was nothing like the kiss from earlier –so full of years worth of UST-, but was more reassuring than anything else, and gentle in an effort to put Sam at ease.

_I prefer this version of going slow, _Danny thought to himself as he pulled away.

Sam's thoughts were mirroring his own, _Slow with kissing is the way to go. _

"Sweet dreams Sam," Danny said, kissing her briefly on the cheek before leaving, in a considerably better mood than when he had arrived.

l.l.l.l.l

At school the next day, both Danny and Sam were sticking to their plan of taking it slower. When they met before class, Danny had given her a quick kiss on the cheek when the hallway was empty, but that was the only thing out of the ordinary.

When Tucker arrived and saw how the two were acting (or not acting as the case may be), he just rolled his eyes.

When Danny had called him the night before and told him what had happened, he had replied with 'Finally', even though on the inside he had been singing hallelujah. He was excited for his two best friends, and pretty happy for himself; now that Sam and Danny were dating, it would cut down on the amount of angsty conversations between them and Tucker on an individual level. Less angst on a personal front was a great thing in Tucker's opinion, especially when it seemed to be rising on a professional level (ghost hunting).

Tucker hadn't expected them to be making out or anything (which he really didn't need to see. Ever), but you'd think Danny and Sam would be acting at least a _little_ bit different! They weren't even holding hands for God's sake. The only new thing Tucker could see was the sweet, sappy smiles they sent to each other every once and awhile. It was enough to make him shake his head; dating, but still in enough of a denial frame of mind to hide it from the general public.

_They look happy though_, Tucker noticed that at once, _Happier and more at ease than they had been in awhile, what with everything that's going on. _

If they wanted to go the secret romance route, he wouldn't try and convince them how dumb it was (which he wholeheartedly agreed), but that didn't mean he wasn't going to tease the hell out of them.

"You really don't get the whole boyfriend/girlfriend concept do you? Usually there's at lease a _smidge_ of physical contact when hanging out before class!"

Both of them blushed, and Tucker sighed. Yep…some things hadn't changed at all.

"I don't like PDAs," Sam replied, shooting a glance at Danny.

"Excuses, excuses," Tucker waved off her statement since is was just that- an excuse, "besides, holding hands barely classifies as PDA."

"Maybe later," Sam said, and at that Danny gave her a surprised yet pleased smile.

_Hopeless_, Tucker thought as the three of them began to walk to class.

Valerie joined them halfway there. When, like Tucker, she noticed the lack of difference between Danny and Sam, she raised her eyebrows.

After Danny had left last night, Sam had called Valerie back and told her how things had turned out. Val had been thrilled, mentioned something about double dates, and scoffed when Sam explained the going slow.

"Slow? You've been going slow for the past three years! Don't you think it's time you kicked it up a notch?"

"We're still going to do a couple things," Sam had clarified, "but I'm just not ready to announce it to the world. As much as I hate the fact, us finally getting together is going to be big news at school; even I know that, unpopular or not, everyone is watching us with will or won't they get together curiosity. Danny and I are the freaking Ross and Rachel of Casper High."

Val had snickered at how true that was. Even Paulina and Dash paid attention to that, even if they ignored Danny and Sam the rest of the time unless it was to tease.

"I just want to adjust to everything before I have to deal with the gawking of the general populace," Sam had concluded, and Val really had understood, but she hadn't really expected them to follow through with it.

She had been wrong though, because by the looks of things, they were definitely following through with it.

As she came to them, Tucker rather dramatically threw an arm around her shoulder and looked pointedly at Danny and Sam.

"See, it is possible to touch without being all over each other."

"Aw, leave them alone Tucker," Val swatted his arm playfully, "they'll come around eventually."

"Yeah, I'll believe when I see it," Tucker muttered as they entered their first period and took their respective seats.

Lancer was already at the front of his class, writing notes on the blackboard. The minute the final bell rang, he turned around to face the class and began speaking.

"Good morning. First off, how many of you have been working on your ghost projects, which are due next Friday?"

_Damn_, Danny cursed, _I forgot all about that_.

He and Paulina had met at the library that one time, and that was the last time Danny had even thought about it. What was it he was supposed to talk about again? He knew Paulina would ramble on about how much she loved Phantom, so he was supposed to come up with the actual presentation.

_History_, Danny decided, _When Phantom first appeared, how he went from villain to hero, all that. _

A few hands were raised, including Val, Tucker, Sam and Paulina, but in general hands stayed down and students shot semi-guilty glances at their partners.

Danny wasn't all that worried – he had a first hand account after all- and figured he could write it up in a few hours over the weekend. That meant he'd need to meet with Paulina again, and that thought made him shudder.

"That's all?" Lancer asked as he surveyed the room, giving them all his best 'disappointed teacher' look and tone. He sighed a moment later, "Well, since I'm in a particularly good mood this morning, I'll let you take the class to work on it."

Danny barely held back a groan; he'd rather spend the next hour doing English than sitting with Paulina. Sam looked just as unhappy with the news as she did, while both Tucker and Val were happy.

_Why couldn't I have gotten partner I liked?_ Danny asked, and not for the first time.

With a sigh, he got up from his desk and walked over to Paulina's. The girl was glaring at him, and Danny figured she wasn't too happy about him not having done anything on his end. He was proven right a moment later, when he sat down at the desk opposite her and she snapped.

"I told you to get it done early so I could make sure it's good enough!"

"I've been busy," Danny replied, to which Paulina gave him a look of disbelief, "look, I know exactly what I'm doing and can give it to you on Monday."

"Fine," she said, still not looking pleased, "I've had mine done."

Then she proceeded to tell him what exactly she had done, and in excruciating detail. Danny took the opportunity to tune her out. He looked around the room, noticing that, while Tucker and Valerie seemed to be having a grand old time, Sam and Dash weren't even talking to each other; he was holding a conversation with Kwan (much to Kwan's partner's annoyance) while Sam doodled in a notebook.

He thought back to the teasing Tucker had given them earlier, and he couldn't help but agree with his friend. He was still disappointed about the way they were handling things. Danny wanted to causally have an arm around Sam's shoulders, like Tucker had Val. He didn't get Sam's resolution to keep their relationship under wraps, even if he was going along with it.

What was the big deal anyway? Sure, it was none of anybody's business, but what was the point of purposely keeping it a secret? Since when did Sam give a damn about what anyone else thought anyway?

He heaved a little sigh, wondering how long it would be before Sam was more comfortable with what was happening. He hoped it was soon.

His musings about his new relationship were interrupted when the bell ran, ending class.

"And that's what our project will be," Paulina concluded as Danny got to his feet.

"Ah, sure…" He had absolutely no idea what she had said for the past hour, "and I'll get you my stuff on Monday."

The words went unheard as Paulina turned her attention elsewhere. He returned to his desk, gathered up his books and followed Tucker and Valerie out of the class. Sam was beside him a moment later.

"So, have fun?" She teased, to which Danny gave her a quick glare.

"Not even close," he replied, "and what about you? Enjoy your quality time with Dash?"

His attempt to turn the tables on her were ruined when Sam just smirked, "Just wonderful. I quite enjoyed the silence. That's what happens when you get things done early."

"You're done already?"

"I'm doing ecto laws, remember? I'm already an expert. All I need to do is throw together a PowerPoint."

"See you in gym Sam," Danny said as they came to their parting point, and when he saw that no one else was paying attention to them, he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.

She blinked in surprise, but then broke into a large smile, "See you then," and then she turned and walked away.

After she was gone, Danny began to walk towards his next class. He turned a corner however, and his path was blocked by a large group of students. He groaned, knowing that he was officially going to be late for class. Whatever was making the crowd, it didn't seem to be moving. He went up on his tip toes and strained his ears to hear over the chatter, trying to find out what was going on. He picked up words, and then groaned with realization.

"This is Tiffany Snow, reporting from Casper High."

"What's the news crew here for?" He asked the student closest to him, even though Danny had a fairly good idea.

There was really only one thing reporters came to Casper High for.

"Asking students about ghosts," was the reply, and then an eye roll, "what else is new?"

"Well, if it isn't the boy who flies through walls."

Danny didn't even try to contain his groan as he realized who the speaker was. He looked over his shoulder, and sure enough Tara MaClay, apparent reporter extraordinaire, was standing behind him. And the look on her face as she studied him made Danny nervous.

"What are you doing here?" He all but growled.

"My job of course," She replied, looking all innocent, "I am a journalist after all."

"That's great. So why don't you go and report something far away from me?"

She only smirked at that, and a glint entered her eyes as she finally spoke, "Well, I could, but there's just something about you that makes me think that, if I stick around you long enough, I'll get an even better story than ghosts among us."

He went rigid at that, even if Danny didn't let the woman see his distressed reaction to her words. Having the journalist lurking around school would be bad enough, but to have her pay close attention to him? Especially when he knew she was working closely with people he suspected were with the Guys in White? At a time when his powers seemed to be going haywire? It was like his secret was just waiting to be blown. God, this was not good.

"If you're planning on stalking me," Danny said, voice dead pan, "I can very easily get you banned from school propriety."

Maclay didn't even bat an eyelash, "You're not on school grounds all the time."

She had too good a point. He could always try to get her charged with stalking if she followed him around outside of school, but he wasn't sure if that would work, what with her being a journalist; if it was possible to charge a reporter with stalking, there probably wouldn't be any paparazzi left out there. Danny had to get away from her, and pray that something big happened to take her attention off of him.

"Well, I have to go to class," Danny said, "it was very unpleasant seeing you again."

"See you around!" She called as he walked away, the smirk very apparent in her voice.

To Danny, that was very much a threat. A threat that he needed to find a way to deal with. He spent the next class thinking of, and then discarding, ideas to throw Maclay off. Well, he was going to be seeing Sam after this class anyway, so he'd ask her what she thought, and then bring Tucker in on the planning. If that failed, Jazz was home, and she usually had some pretty good ideas.

He was standing at his locker, throwing his text books back in, when Danny felt someone walk up behind him. He turned around and found Sam standing there.

"I got halfway through changing for gym," Sam said by way of explanation, "and realized that I forgot my gym pants in my locker out here. Your locker was between my locker and the gym, and I saw you standing here, and thought maybe you'd walk with me to mine?"

Danny nodded absently, only half aware of her question, as something else had caught his attention the moment he had looked at her. That thing was, once again, a tiny green shirt that Sam was wearing…and this one showed more cleavage than the last one too. Danny vaguely heard her say something about it, because she hadn't been wearing it earlier. Combine that with the short skirt she had yet to change out of, and Danny's brain was close to short circuiting.

God, was she _trying_ to kill him?

"Danny?" She had begun to walk away, and turned back when she realized he wasn't following, "You coming?"

"Um, yeah…" He managed to croak out, and began walking beside Sam.

She continued to talk, and Danny continued to have a hard time focusing on her words. Damnit, this was driving him insane! He couldn't take it anymore; all morning he had wanted to just touch her, and he hadn't because she didn't like public displays of affection. He had been okay with that, but now she was in that damn outfit, and he felt like screaming.

Danny grabbed hold of her hand abruptly and pulled her towards him. She squeaked out his name in surprise, looking around them; they were alone in the hall. Danny phased them into what he knew to be an empty science lab.

"Danny!" Sam cried, "What are you doing!"

"You said not in public," his voice was low as he whispered it in her ear, "and that there could be kissing. Now we're in private."

He brought his mouth away from her ear and crushed it onto her lips. Any confusion Sam had been feeling was gone the minute Danny's tongue slipped into her parted mouth. In fact, as she returned the fervour, she couldn't even remember why she had been confused in the first place. All she could think was '_Thank God I didn't outlaw kissing'_.

"Hmm…" She moaned, running her tongue across his lower lip, "You taste different."

_Taste different_? Danny didn't expect her to say that.

"What?" He asked as he trailed kisses along her jaw line.

"Different," Sam let out a long breath, "you taste different as Phantom."

Danny jerked back, breaking all contact with her. Sam made a sound of protest as he pulled away his touch, and she looked up at him in confusion. She was surprised to see traces of hurt on his flushed face.

_What was wrong with…Oh_! Sam understood. He thought she was suggesting that she didn't want to kiss him as a human. Danny was worried that she felt like all those Phantom fangirls, and only wanted his ghost side. He was a complete and total moron to think so, but Sam didn't think telling him that would help the situation at all. Instead, she went for the ego soothing method.

"I said taste different," Sam assured him as she wrapped her arms around her neck, "but equally good."

The hurt faded from his face and was replaced by a smirk.

"Well then, want another taste?"

"Damn straight I do," this time Sam kissed him, "…very good."

Danny's smirk grew and he couldn't help but add, "You're not so bad yourself."

Without removing his lips, Danny abruptly lifted Sam off the ground and sat her down on one of the tables, so that her legs were dangling over the side. He stepped between those legs, getting as close to her as physically possible. She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him even closer. Sam kept one arm wrapped around his neck and brought the other to rest just on top of his belt. She slipped her hand up under his shirt, passing over his hard stomach. Danny groaned as her nails raked lightly across his abs. When she started to trace patterns across his flesh, Danny gave a pleasurable shudder.

It was impossible for her not to know what she was doing him; being pressed so tightly against him told her everything and Sam took a great deal of feminine pride in his responses.

Her sitting position had caused her skirt to ride up to the point it barely covered her underwear. Danny's hand was on top of her bare thigh, fingers just touching the hem of her skirt, and itching to inch up under the material altogether.

Danny attacked her neck with his mouth. He made sure to take it easy, knowing that Sam might not appreciate him giving her a hickey.

"Dan…" Sam moaned breathlessly, when his hand (finally) slipped under her skirt, "…ney…"

"Flowers in the Attic! Mr. Fenton! Ms. Manson!"

The couple broke apart abruptly, looking to the door. Not only was Mr. Lancer standing in the now open door, but a large chunk of the senior class was looking in from the hall. To they looked shocked would have been an understatement.

Danny jerked his hand out from Sam's skirt and stepped away from her, as Sam jumped down from the table and pulled her skirt back down into place. Both of their faces were burning red as they avoided looking either their teacher or their classmates in the eye.

"My office," Lancer told them, "now."

Faces still flaming, Danny and Sam followed the teacher through the hall. When they reached his office, Lancer turned back to them, and they fidgeted under his look.

"Don't worry, you're not in trouble. I just thought you'd prefer this conversation to be held away from your classmates," Mr. Lancer said, "I'm sure I don't have to remind you that the school has a rather strict policy concerning expressions of a romantic nature."

They both nodded sheepishly. The 'rules' of the school stated that anything more than handholding and brief kisses were prohibited. While teachers rarely ever actually punished students for it, it was still possible to find yourself in trouble if you broke the policy.

"Good," Lancer continued, "then I don't need to tell you that your…actions were inappropriate, or that there will be no more, oh, how do you kids say it? Getting it on, on school property."

Danny had thought that there was no possible way for him to be anymore embarrassed by the situation, but he was quite clearly wrong. The moment Mr. Lancer used the term 'getting it on', his embarrassment skyrocketed to humiliation.

"Yes Mr. Lancer," Sam squeaked out, while all Danny could do was nod.

"Now go to class," the teacher instructed, "and try not to find yourselves back in my office anytime soon."

The minute they were dismissed, Danny and Sam got out of that office as fast as they could. Only when they were in the next hallway over, did they stop their speed walking. Danny leaned against a locker and Sam stood there awkwardly wringing her hands.

"So much for not letting everyone find out," Sam spoke a moment later.

Danny turned to look at herm a stab of guilt hitting him. He was, after all, the one who had dragged her into that science lab. He just hoped she wasn't mad.

"Yeah…sorry about that," he apologized sheepishly.

Instead of being angry, Sam just rolled her eyes at him, "Seriously Danny, you have _got_ to stop taking the blame for everything! If I hadn't wanted to be kissing you, then I would have stopped you."

Danny smiled at her, resisting the use to kiss her again. He wasn't so sure Sam would appreciate it this time around.

"Come on. We better get to class," Danny told her, "you heard Lancer; he doesn't want us in his office anymore."

"Like that's not going to happen," Sam snorted, "the chances of us not ending up in some kind of trouble is zero."

"Well, let's try for the rest of the day then."

They stopped walking when they came to the locker rooms.

"Ask to sit out okay?" Danny asked her before they parted, "Since our whole going slow plan is blown to pieces, we should probably talk."

"Sure," Sam replied with a small smile, "my gym pants are still in my locker anyway."

Danny went into the men's locker room, pausing to listen for anyone else. He hoped that no one else was in here, because he really didn't want to deal with them at the moment. He heard the sounds of voices, but they all seemed to be coming from the opposite side of the room from where his gym locker was located. Hopefully they stayed over there.

Danny made his way to his locker, determined to get changed as quickly as possible and get back to Sam. Tetslaff had this weird rule that, even if you were sick and sitting out of the class, you had to change into your gym clothes anyway. He was just opening his locker when he felt their presence behind him. Danny tensed, cursing up a blue streak in his mind. Damn, he had been hoping no one had heard him come in. Apparently whoever was in here had waited for him.

Danny turned around slowly, preparing himself for something that wouldn't be fun. All the senior members of the football team were standing there, Dash at the front. There was a malicious smirk on his face, and Danny knew this was going to be unpleasant.

_Damn_, Danny thought in annoyance.

"Congratulations Fentina. I didn't know you had it in you."

Danny blinked in surprise and confusion. What the hell was Dash going on about?

"Gotta ask though," now Dash just looked downright evil, "make use of that science lab often?"

It all clicked and Danny's eyes narrowed at the jock.

"That's none of your business," Danny growled, "now get out of my way."

He pushed past the group, not caring that he hadn't changed yet. Danny figured he had better get out of there before one of them said something that would really piss him off.

"Maybe I'll just ask Manson."

Dash's words made Danny stop mid-stride and he turned back, his face dark.

"Leave her alone Dash."

"What's wrong Fenton? Touchy on the subject? Or just pissed you got interrupted?"

"Back off Dash," Danny gritted his teeth and his hands clenched into fists.

He was about ten seconds from taking a swing at the other boy. If Dash didn't shut up, he probably would. Dash, of course, ignored what was blatantly a threat.

"Though, I do feel the need to thank you; without the free show the two of you gave us, we'd never have gotten to see what great legs Manson has, especially those thighs," Dash was leering, "makes you wonder what the rest of her looks like."

Danny was just about shaking with rage. How _dare_ he talk about Sam that way!

"I wonder if she still tastes like loser, or maybe that wore off the hotter she got. Maybe I'll have to find out…ask her if she'd like to have a real man slip his hand up her skirt."

Danny acted before he realized it; his hands shot out and connected with Dash's shoulders. The jock quite literally few backwards, his feet off the floor. He crashed into the lockers on the other side of the room. Metal groaned as Dash's body caused it to sink inwards. Danny stocked across the room to where his shove had sent Dash. He was now in a heap on the floor, and when Danny got there, he reached down, took hold of the front of Dash's shirt, lifted him up and slammed him back into the dented locker. In order to make sure they were eyelevel, Danny had to lift Dash a few inches off the ground.

"Say one thing to her," Danny hissed, his voice dangerous, "make one dirty comment and you'll deal with me. If you so much as think about Sam's thighs, let alone try to get close to them, I'll fucking kill you."

He took great pleasure at the naked fear evident on Dash's face.

"Got that?"

"Ye-yes," Dash managed to stutter out.

"Good," Danny gave one last growl before he let Dash go.

Dash landed on the floor and he stayed there. Danny turned, and the other jocks were looking the same way Dash was. When Danny took a step forward, they all jumped out of his way, parting for him. Danny walked past them all, anger still burning through him. Dash was lucky he hadn't beat him within an inch of his life. Terrifying enough, Danny wanted nothing more than to go back and do just that.

He stormed out of the locker room, still seething. When he saw Ms. Tetslaff standing on the sidelines yelling at some students playing basketball about no carrying, he marched up to her.

"I'm sick and sitting out," Danny informed the teacher bluntly, making no effort to make his statement believable.

"Fenton!" Tetslaff said when she realized it was him, "Congratulations!" then she slapped him on the back, making him stumble forward, "You've won me a nice chunk of change!"

Confusion broke through his anger at her statement.

"What?"

"There's been an ongoing bet about you and Manson since your freshmen year! I'm the one who picked the closest date to you two actually getting together!"

Jesus Christ, the school had been _betting_ on them!

As he processes this new information, Danny had to be grateful about one thing; at least the desire to kill Dash had gone away. Complete and utter embarrassment had a way to eclipsing all other feelings.

l.l.l.l.l

Sam was waiting for Danny on the bleachers. Tetslaff hadn't questioned her 'I feel sick' excuse. Danny was right when he said they had to talk some more, and even though the bleachers wasn't the ideal place to do it, it was better than in the middle of the gym while trying to play basketball.

Where did the two of them go from here? God, she was asking that a lot in the past twenty-four hours! It was obvious that her desire to go slow was blown to pieces. Strangely enough, that fact didn't bother her as much as she thought it would. Oh, she was not pleased that the student body had found out by walking in on her and Danny making out, but she didn't care that they knew. In fact, she was beginning to wonder is she had cared that much in the first place, or just told herself that she did.

"_Mujerzulea_!"

Sam broke out from her thoughts as the accented voice hit her. She looked up to where Paulina, with Star at her side, was walking past her.

Sam had taken a semester of Spanish, and knew _exactly_ what that meant.

"_What _did you just call me!'

Paulina stopped walking and turned back to face her. Star had stopped too, and was looking at her friend in shock. Paulina's face as she looked at Sam was nasty, and Sam knew she was in for a barrage of insults.

"You heard me," Paulina replied with what would have looked like a casual shrug if it hadn't been for the look on her face.

"Yeah, I did," Sam replied, "and go figure, I have a problem with it."

"What else do you call a girl who practically screws a boy who's not her boyfriend?"

"Right," Sam retorted, getting to her feet, "because the entire school doesn't know about your favourite spot behind the bleachers."

Paulina's eyes narrowed, and Star was looking between the two of them nervously.

"Um Paulina," the blonde suggested tentatively, "maybe we should just…"

Paulina completely ignored Star, and gave Sam a glare that would have sent a weaker woman running.

"I wasn't the one caught in the lab, now was I?"

So Sam really couldn't refute that, but there was no way in hell she was going to let Paulina get away with being such a bitch.

"Just because you don't get caught, doesn't mean it's not common knowledge."

"Whatever loser," Paulina gave her one last glare before turning away, "try and keep your legs closed from now on."

That's it! Paulina was _dead_!

Sam was just about to fly at the other girl, when arms wrapped around her waist and stopped her mid-lunge.

"Whoa! Sam!"

"Let me go! I'm gonna kill her!"

The moment Sam had gone on the attack, a look of abject fear had crossed Paulina's face, but the minute Sam had been restrained, a look of disdain had settled on her face once again. As she let Star pull her away, she muttered, "_Psico_," and it caused Sam to redouble her efforts to get out of Danny's grip.

"Again, whoa! No killing or maiming of other students! I've already thrown Dash across a room, so no need for both of us to get suspended for starting fights!"

That got Sam's attention, "You threw Dash across a room?"

"He said some things I didn't like."

"What the hell did he say?"

Danny gave a mumbled reply that Sam didn't catch. One look from her made him repeat it, this time louder.

"He said…some things about you."

Whatever reaction Danny expected to get out of Sam, he didn't get it.

"You idiot! I really don't need you to defend my honour, especially when it involves showing your pow-" Sam cut herself off her rant mid word, once again aware of where they were standing, "let's move this to the bleachers, then I'll finish yelling at you."

They moved to the top of the furthest bleacher, putting as much distance between them and the other students as possible. As promised, Sam picked up where she had left off the moment they were seated.

"Throwing a guy as big as Dash across the room takes a lot of strength Danny. More than you should have, no matter how ripped you are. Even if people in this school are idiots, that's something they're going to question!"

Danny decided not to tell her about the dented lockers or lifting Dash off of the ground. It would probably be bad if he did.

"You're one to talk," Danny countered, "since you were just about to kick the crap out of Paulina."

Sam's indignation deflated a bit, but that didn't stop her from saying, "Yeah, but I don't have a secret identity to protect."

They lapsed into silence after that, until Sam tentatively spoke up, "But, um, thanks."

"Thanks?" Danny asked in confusion. Hadn't she just been yelling at him a few seconds ago?

"For being willing to take on Dash to, well…" Sam started and ended up trailing off.

"Defend your honour?" Danny recalled her statement from earlier, his tone somewhat teasing.

"Yeah, that. It was very…knight in shining armour," Sam replied with a smile, and then hurried on to add, "not that I need you to protect me!"

"I'm well aware of that. Besides, you know you'd do the same for me."

"I would," Sam admitted, a little sheepishly, "God, what a pair we make!"

"Hey, at least we'll never be boring," Danny said, getting a laugh out of her.

Tentatively, Danny reached over and took hold of Sam's hand. She stiffened a little, and then with a quick squeeze, she relaxed. She gave him a sweet smile that made his stomach flip over, and he opened his mouth to speak. The words never came, because an explosion rocked the bleachers five feet from them, sending them both flying. They didn't go far, and as they were about to hit the ground, Danny angled his body so that he hit first and Sam landed on top of him. He grit his teeth against the flash of pain at landing and the added pain of Sam's elbow driving into his stomach.

"What the hell was that!" Same exclaimed in surprise.

And then his ghost sense went off.

Danny looked around hurriedly, trying to find and identify the threat. He looked up in time to see another ecto blast coming straight at them. He yelped and rolled himself and Sam out of the way just in time to avoid being hit. When they stopped rolling, Danny leapt to his feet, pulling Sam up with him, and prepared to defend the two of them against whoever was attacking.

He could honestly say that he was surprised when he realized it was Youngblood that was floating in front of them. Not only had he and the boy ghost been on relatively peaceful terms, it wasn't Youngblood's style to go with an all out attack. Usually it was not-quite-so-harmless pranks.

"Youngblood?" Sam voiced his confusion.

Danny seriously wanted to ask questions, but when he saw another ecto blast gathering around the ghost's hands, he knew he had to get everyone else out of the gym before an all out fight broke out.

"GHOST!" He shouted at the tops of his lungs.

Sure, an explosion would have caused enough panic to get everyone out of the gym, but throw the word 'ghost' out, and it cleared the room quicker. It did the trick, because the mass exodus from the gym took on even more gusto. Danny grabbed hold of Sam's hand and moved into the crowd.

"Go!" he told her, "I'll take care of this!"

"Danny, wait!" She protested, "Everyone knows we were in here together, and if I go out without you, they'll notice!"

Damn. That wasn't something he could afford, especially now that he knew that there was a journalist watching him closely. Him not coming out of the room where Danny Phantom mysteriously appeared, was something she'd notice. How was he going to get out of this one?

The answer came to him a moment later, and it was a simple one. Lots of chances to go wrong, but when didn't his plans have lots of faults?

"I'll duplicate myself," he said, and Sam's eyes widened in understanding.

He waited until the other students were out of the gym, pulled the anti-ghost patch off his arm, closed his eyes and began to concentrate.

It was a strange feeling, duplicating himself. His right side went completely numb, and yet he was able to feel all those muscles tense. Then it felt as though he was splitting, a part of him being pulled away from the rest. Then, with a loud pop, the feeling was abruptly gone. When Danny opened his eyes again, he was looking into identical ones. He blinked a few times, clearing his focus, and then spoke to Sam.

"I don't know how functional he'll be away from me, so keep him close. Not sure how long I can keep it up either, so be prepared to get out of sight as soon as you can."

"Right," Sam replied, grabbing hold of replica Danny's hand and hauling him out of the gym.

He whirled around in time to avoid catching a blast in the chest. Youngblood was still floating there in the exact same place.

"What are you doing!" Danny yelled at the ghost, as he himself transformed.

There was no answer from the ghost, and that threw Danny. What the hell? Since when was Youngblood ever silent? Usually he wouldn't shut up. He'd worry about that later, since Youngblood was attacking him again.

Danny dodged to the right to avoid the attack, and then took off into the air. He flew at the young ghost, more than reading to pound on him for nor only being a nuisance in general, but for interrupting his moment with Sam. Youngblood lunged just before Danny reached him, arching downwards to avoid Danny's punch.

The two of them wove around each other in the air, Danny doing his best to try and hit the other ghost while Youngblood successfully kept as much physical distance between them as he could, all the while sending off ecto blasts.

"Damnit! Stop moving!" Danny yelled in frustration.

Out of all the times for the stupid thermos to be forgotten in his locker, it was now.

Then Youngblood did stop moving, and Danny careened into him. Before Danny could do anything, Youngblood latched onto his back, and he wouldn't let go.

"Let go!" Danny screamed, trying to throw him off without success.

The ecto blast came from behind him, knocking Youngblood off of him. Danny whirled around, assuming another ghost had joined the fight and missed. It wasn't an attacking ghost behind him, but a fully suited, battle ready Valerie. Danny didn't really know which was worse.

"It wasn't me!" Danny blurted out hurriedly, throwing up his hands up in a I surrender gesture.

He had no idea if she could see Youngblood or not. If she couldn't, then she'd assume _he_ was the one doing the attacking, and then Danny'd have to fight them both.

"I know that!" The Red Huntress sounded exasperated, "it's the little pirate wannabe. Now shut up and help me take him down!"

_Thank God_, Danny couldn't help but think.

Even as Valerie attacked, Youngblood paid no attention to her. All of his focus remained on Danny. So much that Valerie was completely ignored.

Since when did Youngblood fight like this? Usually he treated it like a game, trying to get hits in. And where were the happy cries and mocking taunts, all in some sort of character? Why was he letting himself be hit?

"Something's wrong," Danny muttered to himself.

Valerie managed to hear him, "What!"

"Something's wrong!" Danny repeated, louder this time, and as he blocked Youngblood's attack with one of his own, "This isn't how Youngblood acts! Where is the pirate lingo? The skeletal parrot?"

Now that Danny was looking, he noticed all the other things that were off. Youngblood's face was completely blank; there was no emotion there, and no recognition if his eyes. Everything about the child ghost was just _wrong_. Danny never thought he'd ever miss Youngblood's annoying chatter, but he really did. This was just creepy.

He managed to finally land a hit, his fist catching Youngblood in the jaw. He went flying back towards the wall, but instead of hitting it, he phased through it. Into a hallway that Danny knew was filled with students and teachers who were waiting to see what happened. Screams affirmed that fact a moment later.

"Damnit!" Val cursed loudly, before speeding out of the gym.

Danny followed closely behind her.

As usual, there as panic in the hallways at the sight of a ghost. The cynical part of Danny's mind couldn't help but wonder why people weren't used to it. It had been happening for years now. Danny filed that thought away to think of later, at a time he wasn't in the middle of a fight.

Youngblood had finally noticed Val's presence, since he was actively trying to avoid her attacks. He was using the same tactics as he had with Danny earlier, doing his best to keep distance between him and his attacker; his plan wasn't working as well this time, since Valerie was using her wrist laser, where Danny had been trying to use his fists.

"A little help would be nice!" Valerie yelled at him, clearly angry that she hadn't been able to end this yet.

With an eye roll, Danny re-joined the fight. Youngblood's attention focused on him again, but he still tried to evade Val's attacks.

Another weird thing? Youngblood usually would have run by now. He didn't enjoy losing a fight, and was gone before he was in that much pain. Here, he was taking plenty of hits, most courtesy of Valerie's laser, and yet he was making no move to get away.

Danny had finally switched to ecto blasts, realizing that, as much as he wanted to physically pummel the ghost, it was not working. Youngblood wasn't letting him get close enough, but he wasn't fast enough to dodge all of Danny's ecto blasts. Besides, there was no way he was letting the Red Huntress show Phantom up by landing more hits.

One of Youngblood's attacks managed to catch Danny's shoulder, knocking him backwards. The hit was more powerful than he had expected, and when he collided with Valerie, it caused her jet to fly off course and begin to spin. It only stopped when it crashed into a wall. The two of them landed in a heap of tangled limbs on the floor. Valerie began cursing loudly as she rushed to disentangle herself and her sled, while Danny rubbed his shoulder where he had been hit.

He looked back up, hoping that Youngblood had decided to take the opportunity to take off. For a minute, he believed that that had happened, because when he looked up, Youngblood wasn't in the same place as he had been. Instead, the ghost was zooming away down the hall. The next moment however, Danny realized that he was heading towards the group of students, teachers and reporters who had decided it was worth the danger to stay and watch the fight.

Why the hell was Youngblood heading for them? So far, his entire focus had been on Danny. So why would he suddenly change it to the crowd? When Danny looked at the crowd again, he knew why. There, standing at the front of the crowd, his very blank looking duplicate at her side, was Sam. Even Youngblood knew that the best way to get to Danny was to go after Sam.

Danny was on his feet and in the air a split second later, zooming off towards Youngblood. The crowd he was rushing towards had apparently realized that they were Youngblood's intended destination, because they finally scattered and ran screaming for the nearest exit. Sam, who was very aware that she was most likely the target, stayed where she was in an attempt to make sure everyone else was away from her if there was an attack. At that moment, Danny cursed her for keeping others safe instead of getting the hell out of there.

"Sam! Move!"

Seeing the green energy gathering around Danny's hands, Sam finally moved. Grabbing hold of the duplicate's hand, she began running towards the nearest door. The next moment, Danny was firing twin ecto beams, and even through Youngblood had veered off to follow Sam, the blasts caught him in the side.

The child ghost crashed into the wall with enough force and speed that it managed to cause an impact explosion. The wall exploded outwards, sending chunks of plaster and insulation everywhere. Realizing that those chunks were raining down on her, Sam let go of the duplicate's arm and dove the rest of the way. A small piece still managed to catch her in the forehead, and the duplicate was buried. Danny felt a tingle that he knew meant his replica had popped out of existence.

"Sam!" He cried, seeing where she lay on the ground and flying towards it, heart clenched in fear, "Are you okay!" He demanded the minute he knelt by her side.

"I'm fine," she replied, sitting up with a groan.

Not completely believing her, Danny began checking her over for injuries. There was a cut just above her eyebrow where the falling plaster had hit her, but other than that, there was nothing Danny could see.

"I'm fine Danny," Sam reassured him, "but you got buried. Literally."

Danny glanced back at the pile his double had disappeared under. Damn…that was a big pile of rubble. How was he going to explain getting out of that without a scratch?

Valerie zoomed by overhead, sparing them only a brief glance as she flew to the gapping hole in the wall. She looked around, and then cursed loudly.

"Damnit! He's gone."

Danny didn't get why she thought that was a bad thing. Oh, he still completely wanted to get his hands on Youngblood, and the next time the ghost showed up he was going to kill him all over again, but Youngblood not being here to cause more damage was a plus in Danny's book.

"Better get yourself into that," Sam broke into his thoughts, "so I can start acting like a panicked girl friend and start digging you out."

"Hurry," Danny told her as he turned invisible, "I doubt it's going to be comfortable under all that."

He went to the pile he was supposedly buried under. As he was phasing into it, Sam began to play her role.

"Oh my God! _Danny_!"

He smiled a little at how convincing she sounded, and then let himself become both Fenton and solid again. The rubble shifted to accommodate his body, but it was still as uncomfortable as he thought it would be. He only had to wait a moment before he felt someone pull chunks away, and a second later he was uncovered. Danny genuinely coughed as dust was stirred up. Someone grabbed him under the arms and hauled him the rest of the way out. That someone was Valerie, and she kept an arm around his waist to keep him steady.

"You alright?" She asked, her voice concerned.

"Fine," Danny replied through a cough, "thanks. Though, isn't this the time you fly off to protect some sort of secret identity?"

Valerie chuckled, "That it is," then she looked to Sam, "you got him?"

"Always."

Val transferred Danny over to Sam, and then took off through the hole in the wall.

"Put your arm around me and try to look unsteady," Sam instructed him.

"Why Sam," he couldn't help but grin a little as he followed her orders, "I thought you'd never ask."

"Come on. Let's find a place to sit."

"No," Danny said, "go to the nurse's office."

"Danny, I'm _fine_!"

"You're getting that cut looked at," Danny told her seriously, "head wounds should always be checked out. Please Sam?"

It was the please that got her. With a roll of her eyes, Sam relented and they made their way to the nurse's office. When they arrived, they saw that they weren't alone. There were a number of students and a few teachers in the small room, all waiting to get bad aids and Advil for the typical post- ghost attack injuries. They managed to find a seat side by side, and waited until the nurse came to them. She had somehow managed to find out what had 'happened' to Danny, and was trying her best to look him over, but Danny waved her away.

"I'm good. Sam's the one that's bleeding."

With a sigh, the nurse did turn her attention to Sam's head, making sure that there was no more damage than the cut. There wasn't, and Sam was hissing from the sting of the disinfectant, when someone tapped Danny on the shoulder. He turned and found Mr. Lancer standing behind him. From the fairly disappointed look on the teacher's face, he knew that he was in some sort of trouble. So much for staying out of it for the rest of the day.

"Mr. Fenton, may I please speak to you for a moment?"

Danny followed Mr. Lancer into the now empty hallway without a word.

"I came to the nurse's office after the attack to make sure there were no serious injuries," Lancer told him, "lo and behold, it turns out that there was an injured student in here before the attack. A very 'freaked out' Dash Baxter."

Shit. Danny had forgotten about the whole locker room thing. God, he so did not need this on top of everything else. Figured Dash would say something. He should have added a keep your mouth shut to his threat.

"Mr. Fenton, why in the name of all things holy did you throw Mr. Baxter across the locker room?"

"I pushed him," Danny mumbled, "didn't throw him."

Danny wasn't going to try and even explain what had happened; as good as Mr. Lancer was, he _always_ took Dash's side.

Lancer studied the student standing across from him. At the mention of Dash's name, Danny began to seethe, hands clenched at his side. It was rare for the boy to get this upset. Then it clicked.

"He said something concerning Ms. Manson."

Danny's attention snapped back to the teacher.

"I don't give a damn what he says to me," Danny almost hissed, "but I won't let him get anywhere near Sam!"

"After your…discovery this morning," Lancer was choosing his words carefully, "it can't surprise you that some of the students would begin to say…unpleasant things about her. Whether it's true or not –which I seriously doubt it is- many will jump to conclusions and vocalize their assumptions."

"If Dash had just called her a slut, I probably could have controlled myself," Danny replied bluntly, "barely, but I wouldn't have lost it. But then he said…he said he'd like to…"

Danny's voice trailed off, but the teacher knew what the boy was telling him.

"Surely you're aware that Ms. Manson would rather chew her own arm off than have a date with Mr. Baxter, let alone anything further."

Danny's lips quirked a fraction, "I know that," the tiny smile was gone and replaced by an angry scowl, "and I don't know if you've heard or not, but Dash doesn't take no well."

Mr. Lancer had heard, and it was the top reason that Mr. Baxter had fallen from his most favoured student spot. At a party the year before, Dash had come on to a freshmen girl who had promptly told him to beat it. Next thing anyone knew, someone had walked in on them together, Dash practically on top of her and her almost passed out. Dash had claimed that once she had had a few beers she had lightened up, though no one remembered her drinking at all. The only thing that saved Dash from attempted rape charges was his father's influence.

"I know Sam can take care of herself," Danny started again, "but I swear, if he so much as tries, I'll kill him."

Wait a minute? Did Danny's eyes just flash green for a moment? Lancer was silent, trying to figure out what to do. He didn't want to punish Danny, not after hearing his reasons. He couldn't blame the boy for wanting to protect someone he loved, yet he couldn't let him off Scott free either.

"Here's what we're going to do," Lancer finally said, "detention everyday for the next month, starting Monday. And you will personally pay to repair the dented lockers. I will also be forced to contact your parents, and I'm sure they'll give you their own form of punishment."

"That's it?" Danny asked, eyes wide in surprise.

Lancer's eyebrow quirked, "Would you like a tougher punishment?"

"No!" Danny replied forcefully.

"Then don't question me. Now, go collect Ms. Manson and get out of here. Because of the damage, school is dismissed."

Well at least something good had come from that fight. Anytime school was let out early was a good thing.

"Thanks Mr. Lancer," Danny replied gratefully, even if it meant that his car fund was about to be drained.

When he returned to the nurse's room, he found Sam there waiting for him. There was a band aid on her forehead.

"No major damage," she informed him, "just the cut, which will probably scar, and I feel a killer headache coming on."

"Well, you're in luck. School's out for clean up. You can go home, take a few pain killers and sleep it off."

"Yeah," Sam sighed, "what bad luck. I actually had plans for tonight."

"Plans?"

"The library is having a massive book sale, and there's a few books I wanted to get. I work all weekend, so this is the only day I could go," at Danny's look, she sighed, "Yes Danny, I know I'm a geek."

"I could go for you," Danny offered, deciding this would be a great time to play doting boyfriend. Even if the idea of spending any amount of time at a book sale sounded boring as hell.

"Really?" Sam asked, disbelieving.

"Sure," he said, "what better way to avoid going home?"

"Avoid going home?"

"Yeah," Danny replied, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, "Lancer found out about the Dash thing and is calling my parents to them I have to pay for a few dented lockers."

"Dented lockers? You didn't say anything about dented lockers!"

Danny was saved from answering when "Danny! Sam!" pierced the air.

They both looked up and saw Ticker and a now de-suited Valerie waiting for them by the exit. They both looked concerned.

"We're okay. Sam's a little banged up, but I'm fine."

"And how is that?" Valerie asked in a bit of confusion, "You had a wall fall on top of you."

"Must be because Sam and the Red Huntress dug me out so fast," Danny lied with a shrug of nonchalance, "God know I'll probably be bruised and sore tomorrow."

Val looked like she really didn't buy that explanation, but she didn't question it again.

"So, plans for the rest of the day?" Tucker asked, changing the subject.

"Going home to sleep," Sam said.

"Favour for Sam," Danny replied, which caused Tucker to smirk.

"I'm going to head over to work and see if I can start my shift early. I can always use extra cash."

"And that leaves me with no one to hang with," Tucker complained.

"You can always come to the book sale with me," Danny offered.

Tucker looked somewhat horrified at the suggestion, "Um, no. I can have some quality time with my electronics."

When Valerie was gone a minute later, Tucker turned back to Danny and Sam, all serious.

"Okay, what happened?"

Danny and Sam glanced at each other briefly, before Danny began to speak.

"Did you, hear about, um…"

"You two getting hot and heavy in the science lab?" Tucker finished for him, causing them to flush scarlet, "Yep, and there will be much teasing later, but right now I'm talking about the ghost attack and how Danny managed to be buried under rubble without a scratch."

"It was Youngblood," Danny said, and Tucker looked as surprised as he and Sam had been earlier, "I know, it was weird. And there was something wrong with him; he was completely silent and emotionless. It was like he was on auto pilot, and the parrot wasn't there."

"The parrot wasn't there?"

"He was _silent_?"

The two disbelieving comments were spoke at the same time, and Danny just nodded.

"That's not the only strange thing. He was so completely focused on me that he completely ignored Val. He didn't try to avoid her hits or attack her. The only time he was focused elsewhere was when he went for Sam, but even that was a way to get at me. He was completely after me."

"That is way weird," Tucker said, "there _has_ to be something up with that."

"I'm going to go out looking for Youngblood tonight," Danny decided, "and bring the damn thermos this time. If I can catch him, I can find up what's up, because something really isn't right. As for how I was buried in rubble, there were two of me. I duplicated myself.

"And it lasted that long?" Tucker asked, "Impressive."

There was a small smirk on Sam's face, and when Danny asked her about it, it grew.

"Oh," she replied flippantly as she handed Danny a list of book titles and money to go with it, "I was just thinking of how much fun I could have with two Danny's."

Danny's mouth fell open, and Tucker's eyes bugged out of his head. They both looked at her in shock, and Sam was obviously amused by it.

"Bye guys," Sam said, leaning in to give Danny a quick kiss on the cheek before she turned and sauntered away, leaving the two boys to watch her departure in shock.

"Did she just…" Tucker sounded flabbergasted.

"She did," Danny replied, blushing a deep red.

"Damn. Dating you is apparently a bad and corrupting influence. It's making her kinky."

"Hey! You are not allowed to use Sam and kinky in the same sentence!"

"Right," Tucker rolled his eyes, "because you weren't thinking the exact same thing. Probably enjoying it too, but you really think I _want_ to think of Sam and kinky together? It's all sorts of wrong!"

Danny didn't refute or agree with the statement, and Tucker rolled his eyes again.

"It's official. I'm scarred for life. I'm leaving now before I get any nightmare images."

Danny just waved him off, and then forced his mind far, far away from any thoughts that both Sam and Tucker had put into his head. Instead, he focused on the booklist in his hand. When he saw the number of books on there, he groaned. Why had he volunteered for this again?

l.l.l.l

Danny walked up the steps of the library, really hoping that all the books on Sam's list were in the same place. Since they all had rather creepy sounding titles, Danny assumed that they'd all be in some sort of horror section, if the books were divided into sections. He really, really hoped they were, because even if this was a pretty good way to put off going home, he had no desire to spend all afternoon in the library. It was so not his thing.

When Danny walked through the doors, he groaned. When Sam had said massive, he really hadn't thought it would be this big. Shelves upon temporary shelves had been erected and took up the entire front of the building. He was relieved to see that the books had been divided into sections, but he didn't see horror anywhere.

With a sigh, Danny began to wander the shelves, casting glances at the signs posted about them that advertised their content. So far he had passed everything from cooking to science fiction, but had yet to find anything resembling horror.

He was just reaching the back shelves when he shivered, sending a puff of blue mist shooting out of his mouth.

_Son of a bitch_! Danny cursed internally the second his ghost sense went off.

Damnit! He had just gotten done fighting! He didn't need this right now! At least he had the thermos on his this time, but that was not the point.

He turned a corner quickly, coming around the final bookshelf, ready to attack. Instead, he found himself stopping abruptly.

"Ghostwriter?" Danny asked in surprise.

The ghost looked up from inspecting the book in his hand, and focused his attention on the hybrid.

"Ah, hello Danny."

His tone was conversational, like they were just friendly acquaintances who hadn't seen each other in a long time. To be fair, that was close enough to the truth. Danny certainly didn't consider him an enemy. Once the rhyming had stopped after the whole Christmas incident, Danny had admitted that Ghostwriter had helped him out in a roundabout way. Not to mention Ghostwriter had a right to be pissed; Danny had destroyed his property after all. So Danny had gotten Walker to let Ghostwriter out of prison (apparently even Walker got a touch of the Christmas spirit), calling it repayment for destroying his manuscript. Ghostwriter had returned to his library, and all was forgiven.

"Um, hi…" Danny replied uncertainly.

"Are you looking for a book?" Ghostwriter inquired politely.

"Yeah," Danny said, "a few. Sam asked me to pick up some creepy sounding ones."

"You'll most likely find them in the horror section. I've already looked there, but saw nothing that struck my fancy. They're on the last shelf on the other side of the room. Just look for an abundance of Stephen King books and you'll know you're in the right place."

"Thanks," Danny replied thankfully, and then a question came to his mind, "how did you know about this sale anyway?"

Ghostwriter wasn't exactly known for being a ghost that left his lair often.

"A friend was here recently and saw and advertisement."

Danny's eyebrows shot up before he could stop them.

"Yes, a friend," Ghostwriter looked as though he didn't know if he should chuckle or be offended, "I believe you ran into her when she was here."

Danny thought about it for a minute, and when the realization came to him, his eyes nearly bugged out of his head.

"_Ember_?"

"Of course," this time the ghost did chuckle, "who do you think writes her songs? The girl has superb musical talent, but her use of the written word leaves much to be desired."

So Ghostwriter was responsible for those terrible lyrics?

"She asks for a catchy pop song with her name," he seemed to read Danny's thoughts, "and that's what I gave her."

Well, horrible or not, it _was_ a catchy pop song. He had succeeded there.

"Since you're friends with Ember and all," Danny said when he remember the expose from two days ago, "can you tell her not to leave the Ghost Zone anytime soon? A newspaper ran an article that uncovered that she's a ghost, and her take over the world schemes. I think that means she's not protected under any ecto laws anymore. It's not exactly safe for her to come out at the moment."

Ghostwriter looked grave when he answered, "Of course."

"Thanks. I had no idea how to get a hold of her. We might not like each other, but the last thing I want is for her to be caught by the Guys in White."

"Thank you," Ghostwriter replied sincerely, and as the moments began to pass in silence that was quickly being awkward, he cleared his throat and spoke again, "Well, I suppose you should go and collect those books now. I'm sure your friend would be disappointed if someone else bought them before you got there. Oh, though speaking off, may I ask how you and she are doing?"

_What_? Danny was fairly taken back by the question.

"Um…we're doing fine."

"Glad to hear it," Ghostwriter grinned, which in itself was a strange thing in Danny's mind, "I did win a nice amount because the two of you did get together when you did."

Danny choked and stared at the ghost in blatant shock. The _ghosts_ had been betting on them too! It was bad enough that the school had been!

"How…how much?" Danny squeaked out.

"Let's just say I'll be able to buy books for the next decade without worry," his grin grew as Danny blushed.

_Why_ exactly was he and Sam such a hot topic?

"I'm…I gotta go now," Danny stammered in embarrassment.

"Well, goodbye. Oh, and Danny, I would proceed with extra caution next time you have a run in with Skulker; if you had held out for another week, he would have won the bet. He is none too happy."

"Why the hell was Skulker betting when he's always trying to kill me!"

"Well, you see, there was a clause," Ghostwriter's smile was somewhat guilty, "if one of my fellow ghosts managed to kill you, the bet was null and void."

That's it. Danny needed to get out of there before he learned anymore disturbing news.

"Bye," Danny said hastily and then rushed away.

Ghostwriter shook his head with a small chuckle before he went back to inspecting the book he still held in his hand.

Danny high tailed it to the section that Ghostwriter had mentioned, and within five minutes, had found all the books that Sam had written down. He hurried to the front desk, more than ready to get out of there. As he waited for the librarian to count out his change, Danny caught a glimpse of quite possibly the weirdest thing he had ever seen.

It was Ghostwriter and Mr. Lancer in what appeared to be a very animated conversation, both making gestures towards the book Lancer held. What was even stranger was the fact they both seemed to be enjoying themselves. Mr. Lancer and Ghostwriter becoming friends? That was just…weird.

As Danny left the library, Sam's books secure under his arm, he couldn't help but ask himself if this day could get any weirder.

ll.l.l.l.l

The day might not get any weirder, but Danny soon found out that it could get worse. That realization came the moment he walked into his house and heard the conversation coming from inside.

"Maddie, my dear, you tell the most amusing stories."

First all the crap at school, then the embarrassment at the library, and now he had to deal with Vlad?

"Great," Danny muttered to himself, kicking off his shoes, "just great."

Maybe, if he was quiet enough, he could get to his room without anyone realizing he was home. Then he could just wait out Vlad's visit, and come down to face his parents once his nemesis was gone. Yep…that sounded good. He was out of luck, since Vlad and his parents were sitting in the living room, thus blocking his escape. With a mental groan, Danny decided to face the inevitable and stepped into the living room.

"Danny! There you are!"

"Yeah, Sam asked me to pick something up for her."

"Hello Daniel."

Danny had to look at the man, and of course there was Vlad, with that always present smug and superior look on his face. Danny couldn't help but wonder how Vlad managed to convince himself he was superior, when Danny managed to kick his ass every time they fought. Deserved or not, that look always managed to piss Danny off, and today was no exception.

"Vlad," Danny replied in a completely flat voice.

"Vladdie decided to visit and see how we're doing!" Jack announced in his usual cheerful manner.

"I'm sure he did," Danny didn't even try to hold back the sarcasm in his voice.

In true fashion, neither of his parents even noticed. Vlad did of course, and he just smirked. God Danny wished he could wipe that smirk off of his face.

"Of course," Vlad's voice was full of false sincerity, "you know how much I care about your family. Now Daniel, may I please speak to you privately?"

Danny really, really wanted to say no, but knew he had no choice in the matter, so he silently followed Vlad into the foyer, fuming the whole way.

"What the hell do you want Vlad? Because I'm not in the mood."

"Actually Daniel, I'm doing you a favour."

Now why wouldn't Danny _ever_ believe that? Seeing the stubborn disbelief on his face, Vlad simply shook his head and held something out to him. Giving the older man a strange look, Danny took the item from him. When he looked down at it, his mouth fell open in shock.

It was a picture of him and Sam behind the school yesterday. He had her lifted against the wall, her legs wrapped around his waist and hands tangled in his hair. One of his hands was under her to hold her up, and the other braced on the wall above to steady them. Their lips were locked together…and he was Phantom.

"What…" he looked back to Vlad in confusion and stuttered, "How…"

"A rather determined reporter. You should be happy I keep an eye on the local media, otherwise this would have been this morning's front page."

Danny was still too stunned to speak.

"Now Daniel, I do wish you and Ms. Manson all the best," there was so much sarcasm in Vlad's voice, it was practically dripping from his mouth, "but a little more discretion is required when you're in your ghost form. Especially now that you and Samantha are official and public," How had Vlad found out about the public part, when it only happened a few hours ago? "If someone were to see the girl, shall we say, intimately involved with Phantom, they might begin to piece the puzzle together."

Vlad was far from protecting him; he knew that, if Danny's secret got out, there was nothing stopping him from revealing his. Vlad just wanted to keep the status quo.

"Despite the fact that I paid a small fortune to attain that, I do suggest you destroy it before you manage to lose it. Now, tell your parents goodbye. Pressing business and all that," as Vlad opened the door and exited, "Oh, and Daniel? You're welcome."

God did Danny hate the idea of being in debt to Vlad. He knew very well that there would come a time when Vlad would demand some sort of repayment. Since Vlad had done him a huge favour by stopping this picture from being leaked, Danny would feel compelled to pay him back.

Sparing one last glance at the picture in his hand, Danny gathered an ecto blast around his hand and incinerated it. Well, there was one less complication in his life. Now he had to go face his parents and try to explain the fighting and the vandalism. He felt a severe grounding coming on. He walked back into the living room, where his parents were still waiting.

"What did Vlad want Sweetie?" his mother asked, not a hint of distrust in her voice.

After years of lying, Danny was very good at thinking them up on the spot.

"There's this position at City Hall for a summer student, doing paper work and stuff. Vlad said, if I didn't already have a summer job, I could have it. I told him I'd think about it."

"That's great Danny!" Maddie sounded like she really liked the idea, while his father made a comment about what a great guy Vlad was, "Especially now that you're going to need the money."

Ah. Here it comes.

"Care to explain the call I just received from Mr. Lancer?"

Well, he had better start with the him and Sam thing. Maybe his parents would be lenient if they knew he was defending his girlfriend.

"Sam and I are dating," he went to continue, but his parents cut him off.

"Danny! Congratulations!" His mother squealed.

"That's my boy!" Jack bellowed, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Thanks," Danny replied with a genuine smile. He was glad his parents weren't going to go all 'you can never see her again', "and after everyone found out," he refused to mention how everyone found out. There were some things his parents never needed to know, "Dash said some…things about Sam, and I lost my temper."

He didn't say he was sorry that he had done it, because he really wasn't. There was no way in hell Danny was ever going to apologize. Dash had had it coming.

Both of his parents were looking at him with their we should be angry, but are actually very proud faces. Good, his ploy of mentioning Sam had worked.

"You know Danny," Maddie spoke after a moment, "justified or not, resorting to violence is not the answer."

Danny could barely hold back a snort at that. Coming from someone else's parents it might have sounded chastising, but from his is just sounded hypocritical.

"Oh come on Maddie!" Jack protested, "The punk sounds like he had it coming!"

"Jack!" This time Maddie did sound chastising, "That doesn't matter."

"Right. Of course. Violence is bad. That's why I have detention for a month and I have to pay back the damage."

He left the end open, waiting for his parents to add their punishment at the end. He kept his fingers crossed behind his back, hoping they'd go easy on him.

"I suppose that's good enough," Maddie said slowly, "but next time Danny, just walk away, alright?"

_Yes_! Danny inwardly cheered.

"I'll keep my temper next time," he promised seriously.

That seemed to completely appease his parents.

"So…" He started, "Can I go now?"

"Go ahead Sweetie."

Danny headed up to his room, putting Sam's pile of books on his desk. Since he wasn't grounded, he contemplated calling Tucker to see if he wanted to hang out, but he quickly dismissed the idea. After the day he had had, he was in the mood to just relax. In fact, he was sure that Sam's idea of catching a nap was a good one.

He was just drifting off to sleep, when his sister came barging into his room.

"Danny! Come quick!"

He became fully awake at the urgency in Jazz's tone.

"What is it?" He asked, jumping out of his bed and following her out of his room.

"They're interviewing the GIW on the news," Jazz told him, "and it's not sounding good for ghosts."

Dread settled in his stomach. Not good could mean a lot of things, all of which would make being a ghost very dangerous. He had no idea how Phantom would be affected by all this, but chances were that it wouldn't be good.

They entered the living room, where his parents were already sitting and watching, and stood behind the couch. He looked at the TV, and realized that the woman being interviewed was 'school board member' number one, Erin McNeil. Well, there was an official confirmation that those two were GIW agents.

"Ghosts are a threat to citizens," she was saying, "we've known this for years. We have, of course, tried to keep the peace with them, but as more information is uncovered, it's becoming obvious that our hospitality is being abused."

"What about the ecto laws?" Tiffany Snow asked.

"They're being reviewed," and that was all she'd say on the topic.

"What about friendly ghosts?" was the next question.

"We're seriously reconsidering whether or not the term friendly ghost is actually applicable."

"Really?" Snow asked in surprise, "What about Danny Phantom?"

"There is an exception to every rule," McNeil replied calmly, "Phantom is that exception. It's a well established fact that he's an ally," she turned to look directly into the camera, "which is why we'd like to talk to him. The government feels that his input into this situation is vital. My partner and I are staying at the Amity Hotel, room 204, and are asking for Phantom to meet with us."

Danny absorbed that for a minute, and then gestured for Jazz to leave the room with him.

"Tell me you're not actually going to go!" Jazz demanded as soon as they were out of earshot of their parents.

"What choice do I have? This is probably my best bet on finding out what exactly is going on."

"What if it's a trap?" Jazz argued.

"If it was a trap, they would never have made an announcement on TV. Word gets out that I went to see them and never came back, they'd be the suspects. Phantom is too popular for them to risk touching me."

"I still don't like it," she said in displeasure, "maybe I should come with you."

"You can't; I have a reporter looking at me too closely for you to be shown as having a connection to my ghost half. Besides, if I don't come back, I need you here to alert the media about it."

"Still don't like it," Jazz repeated.

"Neither do I, but I don't have a choice."

Jazz just sighed.

"I'm going to do a patrol around town before I go see them," Danny informed his sister, "see if I can find Youngblood."

"Youngblood?"

Danny gave her a quick recap of what had happened that afternoon.

"Promise to be careful Danny. It sounds as though Youngblood is more dangerous than normal."

"Promise."

l.l.l.

An hour later, Danny had circled the town twice, and found no ghosts, let alone Youngblood. He wasn't sure if he was disappointed or relieved at that fact; on one hand, he was spared another fight, but on the other, he was no closer to finding out what Youngblood was up to. Finally deciding that there was nothing more he could do in that regard, Danny headed over to the Amity Hotel.

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't nervous. He believed what he had told Jazz about this not being a trap, but it didn't stop a part of his brain from wondering if it actually was. He knew that, if it came right down to it, he could always fight his way out, but the possibility of becoming some sort of science experiment scared the hell out of him.

He arrived at the hotel and flew straight to the second floor. He stood outside the door of room 204 and stood there. If he phased right through, he'd probably be attacked. Instead, he knocked. The door opened a moment later, and McNeil looked a little surprised to see him there.

"I got your message," Danny told her flatly.

"Of course," she replied, stepping aside to let him enter, "we just didn't expect you so soon."

Danny walked in without a word. He looked around the room, taking in the equipment and papers that were set up in the room. The other agent, Carvel, was sitting at a computer, typing away. This was apparently command central. Carvel looked up when he came in, and had the same quick flash of surprise on his face as his partner had.

"Okay, what do you want?" Danny asked as soon as the door closed. He wanted to get out of here as soon as possible.

They apparently had no problem getting right down to business, because when McNeil spoke again, it was in a clipped and professional tone.

"We've been concerned about the national security threat posed by ghosts for a long time. While public opinion favoured ghosts, we were unable to do anything about this threat."

"And now that people are scared," Danny finished for her, "you plan to use that to get your own way."

"Exactly."

Danny didn't like it, considering they were directly responsible for the change of public opinion. Causing panic in the general public was never a good thing, especially when a lot of innocent ghosts were going to get caught up in it.

"You do realize that I am a ghost right?"

"Of course," was the reply, "but you've actively fought against ghosts."

"Only the ones who I knew were a direct threat to Amityville," Danny said, making sure to say point blank that he was not on board with the all ghosts are a threat frame of mind. He was far from agreeing, and he was not going to let them think he was.

McNeil's lips pursed, showing her displeasure at Danny's statement.

"Be that as it may," she continued, "the government is seriously considering declaring all ecto laws null and void, and ghosts a general threat."

"And that means?"

"Ghosts will be considered enemies of the state, whether or not they have previous hostile experience. They are to be dealt with automatically. If all goes as planned, we'll be able to bring the fight to them, and keep it off of human soil."

It took a moment for the implications of her words to sink in, and when they did, it absolutely stopped him cold.

"Jesus, are you talking about invading the Ghost Zone?"

"Of course. What better way to end the ghost threat? And with you-"

"No," Danny's voice cut her off.

"Excuse me?"

"I said no," Danny repeated, his voice cold, "I'm not going to help you make war. Not only it is total suicide, it's dumb. The ghosts are stronger than you can ever hope to be!"

"With your to help-"

"If you so much as step foot in the Ghost Zone, I swear I'll be there to stop you. So help me, of you try and start a pointless war with the ghosts, I'll fight with them to end it!"

Silence greeted his declaration, but it wasn't too long before Carvel's angry voice broke out.

"I thought you said you wanted to protect humans!"

"I am!" Danny was seething; did they not see how bad an idea this was? "Fighting with the ghosts will get more people killed! They're _ghosts_!"

"They are a threat!"

"Not all of them!" Danny yelled, his voice holding a bit of wail, "There's only a few of them who cause any significant trouble, and I've got that covered! You fucking idiots! You really think the way to protect humans is to go to war with ghosts? Let me tell you something…_They don't want it_! But push them, and you'll force their hand…_you will lose_!"

"So, you're siding with them?" McNeil's voice was hard and cold.

Danny wanted to scream in frustration. Had they not heard a word he had just said?

"It's not about sides!" He hissed, "It's about not doing something that will get a lot of people killed! I won't fight _anyone_, but I'll do whatever it takes to keep you out of the Ghost Zone! _That's_ protecting people!"

Danny couldn't stay there any longer. They both looked ready to argue their cause, and nothing was going to sway his decision. He felt like shaking them until they had some sense knocked into them. How could anyone think that it was a good idea to declare war against the Ghost Zone?

Without another word, Danny went invisible and sped out of the room. He had to get a hold of the others and let them know what was going on.

Still in the room, the two agents waited until Phantom's cold spot signature disappeared from the computer monitor.

"That went well," McNeil said, voice laced with sarcasm.

"We knew getting him involved was a long shot. That's why we're still gathering information on him. Phantom is against us, so now it's time we turn the humans against him, just like we've done with the other ghosts. Once he's knocked off of his pedestal, he'll be just as vulnerable as the rest of them…and we can do whatever we want with him."

l.l.l.l

An- For those of you who requested angry Danny, I give you angry Danny. Lol. Okay, I know that, in 'real life' Dash and Paulina are not that big of jerks (well, most of the time anyway), but just go with it okay? Oh, and sorry if my Spanish is off- the last time I took Spanish was three years ago, and it was only a semester, so I just used an online translator (and really, I don't think we ever covered the words slut and psycho in class anyway). So, just to clarify again (since it might not be completely obvious giving the kissing in this chapter lol), there will be no written sex scenes- the making out above is about as descriptive as it's going to get. Besides, there's going to be enough things happening soon enough that is not going to leave much time for romance, but for that you'll just have to wait and see! I don't promise an update in the near future, because while I've taken such a long sabbatical, two other WIPs have suffered, and it's high time I get a chapter written for them. I'm going to try to update by the end of this month, if not the beginning of June, but no promises. Peace, Love and Rainbows all, and don't forget to leave a review!


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